


The Past Comes Back

by larryspangel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, it's hinata and a bad bad person, it's just implied and the aftermath, no rape is actually written, no rape scene is shown, rape is not hinata and tsukishima, tsukishima is a good boy in this, who isn't a character in Haikyuu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:56:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larryspangel/pseuds/larryspangel
Summary: There is a new teacher at the school, who just happens to be Hinata's old second grade teacher. That teacher also happens to be the man, who sexually assaulted him all of those years ago.





	1. Chapter 1

“Hello everyone, I have some good and bad news. Bad news is that Kuroko Sensei quit. Good news is that we have a new teacher! Come say hi to the class Haizaki Sensei.

Hinata froze. It can’t be that Haizaki Sensei, it can’t be. Hinata slowly looked up and saw his ex second grade teacher standing at the front of the classroom.

He hadn’t changed much in the time that Hinata had seen him. He smiled at the class, a friendly, disarming smile he had given the second graders years ago. He didn’t look quite as young as he once did, but his eyes were bright as he looked out at the class. 

“Good morning students,” Haizaki Sensei offered a small wave, speaking in a warm tone. If anyone else were to look at him he’d seem like a normal, friendly teacher. “I’m so happy to be able to be here and teach you all.” 

Hinata started sweating and everything started getting fuzzy. All of his past memories that he had tried to keep at the back of his head, were swarming back in.

Be a good boy Shouyou. Don’t tell your parents Shouyou. Open your mouth Shouyou. Spread your legs Shouyou.

Hinata ran full speed out of the classroom, leaving the rest of the students confused. He headed into the first bathroom he saw and broke down in it. He could barely catch his breath between sobs. Hinata ended up staying in there until lunch, completely skipping out on his class all together.

Haizaki watched as Hinata sprinted out of the room, brown eyes lighting up when he saw the familiar flash of red hair. Memories from years ago passed by his eyes and he smiled wider. “Ah, how unfortunate for one of my students to run out on the first day. I’ll have to have a chat with him later.” He turned the class and clapped his hands. “Anyway, let’s move on to the lesson, shall we?” 

In a nearby classroom Kageyama was also able to spot the bright red hair of Hinata as he ran past. He glared at the running figure, wondering just where the hell he was going. Class had already started, was he trying to get in trouble? At this rate he’d miss practice. 

Kageyama’s frown deepened at the through. 

He could probably ask Hinata during lunch, if his teacher wasn’t so strict about phones he’d text Hinata (even though Hinata texting was almost as annoying as listening to him yell in person). Nothing he could do about it now, though. Just hope Hinata wasn’t being an idiot like usual. 

What wasted hope, he realized.

Hinata left to go to the rooftop to eat his lunch, trying to avoid as many people as possible. 

As the bell rang for lunch, Kageyama peeked out the door just in time to see Hinata turn the corner to the stairs. Cursing under his breath, Kageyama hurried after him. Thankfully Kageyama’s legs were just long enough and Hinata’s just short enough that it didn’t take much effort to catch up to him. He reached out and grabbed Hinata’s shoulder, trying to come up with something to say.

Hinata jumped when he felt someone grab his shoulder, quickly turning around, only to realize that it was Kageyama. “Oh, hey Kageyama. D-did you need something?

Kageyama frowned, glaring down at the red head. “You’re acting weird. Well, weirder than usual. I think everyone on this floor saw you sprint out of class this morning. What the hell was that about? Did you get sick again?”

“It was nothing, don’t worry about it. If that’s all you have to talk to me about, I’m going to go eat my lunch.”

He clenched his fists and looked away. Great, he had hoped to avoid this. “L- Listen, dumbass… are you upset or something? I heard that your old teacher left, do you really miss him that much? Or…?” He hated dealing with other people's feelings, he wasn’t as good at reading them like Suga was.

“I guess you could say that…”

“Well… Well, try to cheer up or something. I mean this new teacher can’t be that bad, can he? Plus sometimes a little change is good. Or so I hear.” Kageyama looked away, refusing to say nice things and make eye contact at the same time. “And I’m here to talk, alright? But not about stupid stuff! About… important stuff. Yeah.” 

“Um, thanks Kageyama. I’m fine though, really.” Hinata flashed him a fake smile to try to convince him.

Kageyama nodded, only glancing at Hinata’s face and then quickly looking away again. He only managed to get a glimpse of Hinata’s smile. “Yeah, okay. I’m… glad. I’ll see you at practice. And don’t try to skip out on it, alright? You already told me you’re okay, so if you’re not there I’ll be pissed.” 

“I’ll be there,” Hinata told him, before hurrying up the stairs and to the roof.

“Idiot.” Kageyama muttered to himself, turning and walking back to class. That had wasted a good portion of his lunch. At least they had talked, that was good. Good team relationship building skills. Right? Right. 

A third party had overheard their conversation though. Unlike Kageyama, who was still shaky at identifying how others felt, Tsukishima had almost perfected it. Learning how to read others had helped him know how to mask his own emotions. 

And it was clear to him that something was off about Hinata. 

Sure, listening in from a nearby bathroom may not be the best way to go about anything. Hell, if it was anyone else Tsukishima would have called them a creep. A pathetic creep. But listening to the King trying to comfort someone? That was hardly something to be missed. He didn’t get quite the disaster between the King and his Queen as he had hoped, instead he had gotten a strange feeling about what was going on with Hinata. 

Against his better judgement (no, it went well with his better judgement, but instead went against his image) he waited until Kageyama went back to class and decided to go at least check up on Hinata. No, don’t call it that, he thought with a frown. Teasing him. That’s what I’m doing. Teasing him for missing a teacher.

Hinata sat on the roof and stared off at nothing. He hadn’t touched his food and he wasn’t planning on doing it. All the flashbacks were still going through his head and if he tried to eat even a little bit, he would most likely puke. 

Tsukishima's steps were quiet as he climbed the stairs to the roof. The sky was overcast, the clouds blocking out any source of sun, so of course the roof was otherwise empty. Hinata had to be an idiot if he came up even though they were most likely to get rain. He glanced around the roof, easily spotting Hinata. 

“Oi.” Tsukishima called out, strolling over. “What the hell are you doing up here? Trying to get sick so you miss out on a test?”

Hinata shrugged, still staring off.

Tsukishima stopped, just a few feet behind him. Okay, this was extra strange. “Impressive. I didn’t know you knew how to stop talking, but now all I’m getting is a shrug?”

“Did you need something, Tsukishima?”

Well damn. He had hoped Hinata wouldn’t think to ask the obvious, he hardly ever did. “Just trying to figure out why you aren’t being your annoying self. It’ll be extra annoying at practice. I can already hear everyone complaining and the King throwing a fit.” He shuffled forward so he was standing next to Hinata. “Also, I’m trying to figure out why a high school boy would miss a teacher.” 

“If I’m avoiding talking about it with my best friend, why do you think I would tell you? Especially since you just called me annoying twice. If you want to know something about someone, bullying it out of them is not the answer.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips. “I’ll give you credit for calling me out on it, but I’m just being honest. You might call it bullying, I call it honestly. It’s something we need a bit more of.”

“There is such thing as being honest and nice at the same time,” Hinata said, crossing his arms.

“No there isn’t.” Tsukishima could feel the smirk on his face, not quite sure if he meant to put it there or not. “You’re either honest or nice. Trying to be both is just creating little white lies. Honesty is brutal. So,” he gestured to himself, “unless you want me to start lying you have to accept my honesty.”

“Whatever,” Hinata responded, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them.

Tsukishima wrinkled his nose. The word pathetic was on the tip of his tongue. “You’re really not going to tell me? Maybe we finally have been blessed with your silence. Whatever, Hinata, deal with your problems yourself.” 

He turned away from Hinata, ready to leave it at that. Something halted his steps, though. A feeling, the feeling he had gotten when he overheard Hinata and Kageyama’s conversation, hung over him. What was it? 

A strange feeling he wanted to make go away like all the others.

“Are you going or?”

“Probably.” Tsukishima whispered, but glanced back at Hinata despite his words. “... Why won’t you tell Kageyama what’s wrong?”

“I never even told my family, so why would I tell him?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Tsukishima found himself continuing, even though every part of him told him to stop. You’re not like this. You don’t help people, especially annoying people like Hinata. Just walk away, it’s not your problem. “Hinata, seriously, what the hell? What could possibly be wrong? I thought your head was full of volleyball, there isn’t any room for serious stuff.”

“Everyone has serious stuff in their life, Tsukishima.”  
He shook his head and turned back around to look down at Hinata. “Not you. I have never once seen you talk about anything really serious. Outside of volleyball. I don’t get it. What happened?”

“People usually don’t casually give out their personal secrets.”

Tsukishima sighed, letting his shoulders slump slightly. “Fine. Alright. Nice to know there was no point in coming up here and seeing why the hell you look so depressed. Try not to jump off the roof before practice.” He sneered before turning and actually walking away this time.

This is why he doesn’t try. He doesn’t care. No one wants him to. No one should care.

After Tsukishima left, Hinata burst into tears again. Lunch was almost up and he’d have to go to class. His mom would kill him if he missed all of his classes today. The bell rang and he quickly wiped his eyes, before slowly walking to class. He avoided eye contact with Haizaki Sensei, and shakily sat down in his chair.

Tsukishima hurried back to his class, spitting out a bullshit excuse at Yamaguchi about where he was. He hardly had any time to eat his lunch, but he wasn’t that hungry. Odd. The feeling about Hinata filled up his stomach instead of food. 

He pushed it out of his mind. 

When Hinata walked back into class Haizaki smiled. Before the bell was able to ring he strolled down the aisle, letting his hand drag along the tops of desks before settling on Hinata’s. “Hinata… Shouyou, right?” He asked, a soft smile on his face but a wicked glint in his eyes.

“Y-yes, Sensei.”

His smile widened. “Well, Hinata, I’m not sure how your previous teacher ran this class, but I’m quite concerned about students running out before I can even start my lesson. Especially without a pass. If you could stay after class for a quick talk?”

Slowly he started to drum his fingers against the desk, leaning forward so he was practically hovering over Hinata. How much this reminded him of times so many years ago.

All Hinata could do was nod. Everything was flashing back and all he could do was sit at his desk and wait until after class. 

Haizaki patted Hinata’s back just as the bell rang for class to start. “Great! It won’t take too long.” He flashed another smile before walking up to the front of the class to begin the lesson. 

Hinata looked down at his notebook the entire class, scribbling down notes. He didn’t once look up during the lesson. The class eventually ended and Hinata quickly gathered his stuff, before trying to make his way out the door. 

“Hinata.” Haizaki called, watching as the boy scrambled to the door. Several kids looked his way and Haizaki smiled; good, there was no way out. “I wanted a word with you. Remember?”

Hinata turned around, still not looking Haizaki in the eyes. “W-what did you need?”

“Well, I did mention how I don’t appreciate you bursting out of class before I can even begin my lesson. Perhaps you should stay after a few days for private tutoring to catch up.” Haizaki drew out the sentences as the last few students walked out of class. When the door slid shut he leaned up and grabbed Hinata’s collar. “I’m sure you remember our previous private tutoring sessions, huh, Shouyou?”

Tears started falling down Hinata’s face as he bit back a sob. “I-I’m not free after school most days. I have volleyball p-practice.”

He loosened his hold on Hinata’s collar long enough to reach up and drag his thumb across Hinata’s throat. “Oh, I’m sure you can miss a few practices. I can always write you a pass for your coach so you don’t have to worry. I have so missed tutoring you.” 

“P-please let me go…”

Slowly Haizaki rose to his feet and leaned over the desk. “Oh, but Shouyou, I just got you back,” he whispered, breath ghosting past Hinata’s cheek. 

Hinata sniffled, trying to keep his crying quiet because he knows what happens when he is too loud.

“Now remember, Shouyou, you can’t tell anyone. You remembers what happens when you tell people, right?” His other hand lazily dragged up Hinata’s arm. “It’s a shame you bruise so easily, but it does serve for a nice reminder later on. Now, Shouyou, how much do you remember from our previous lessons?”


	2. Chapter 2

The skidding of sneakers against the wooden floor echoed throughout the gym. Tsukishima landed back on his feet gracefully, grinning at Tanaka’s frustrated expression at getting blocked once again. It had been almost an hour into practice and Tanaka had only gotten past him a handful of times. 

He glanced over at Tanaka’s setter, Kageyama, expecting to see him just as frustrated as his spiker. Instead he caught Kageyama glancing over at the doors, almost anxiously. 

Ah, right. Hinata. Tsukishima thought. Ukai had asked about Hinata’s whereabouts several times, but no one had seen him since lunch. Just another weird thing to add to the growing list. Don’t think about it.

Hinata showed up twenty minutes, before the end of practice. He quickly limped in, sputtering out apologizes for being late. 

“If you had to talk with your teacher, it’s ok. It’s good to get to know a new teacher anyways,” Daichi told him, smiling. “Just try to keep out of trouble, so this doesn’t happen again. We don’t want you to miss too many practices.”

Hinata nodded, before hurrying to grab a volleyball and heading over to Kageyama to practice.

Tsukishima eyed as Hinata hurried over to Kageyama, looking him over as if he’d be able to spot what was wrong. Why was he still looking? Why was he still worrying? He quickly looked away, and angry flush dusting his face. 

This was stupid. Hinata was stupid. He should just forget about it. 

Hinata was trying to be his usual self at practice, but it was hard. He had almost forgotten how bad it stung afterwards. His body ached and for the first time ever, he didn’t want to be at practice.

It was clear something was wrong now and Tsukishima hated himself for noticing. Noticing how Hinata moved different. How he wasn’t smiling. How his jumps weren’t as high. He hated all of it. 

His head kept telling him to corner Hinata after practice, demand to know what’s wrong, but he couldn’t do that. He had to. He couldn’t.

Practice ended and instead of trying to practice extra, Hinata just grabbed his bag and left the gym.

That was it. The final straw. God, Tsukishima hated himself. 

He offered a half assed, lame excuse to Yamaguchi about not being able to head home with him before hurrying after Hinata. With each step closer to the redhead, Tsukishima cursed himself more. 

Hinata froze in his tracks when he heard somebody walking up behind him. He slowly turned around, only to see that it was Tsukishima. “What do you want now?”

Tsukishima stopped a few feet away from Hinata. He frowned and looked away, why was he so nervous. “You said you want honesty.” Tsukishima found himself saying, the words spilling from his mouth. “And honestly, I don’t know. But I can’t help but notice something’s wrong. And I don’t want to notice, but you’re acting different and you’re moving different -- did something happen between lunch and practice? And you- you’ve never been late to practice. What the hell, Hinata?”

Hinata tried to respond with a comeback, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, tears started falling down his face again.

Tsukishima’s eyes widened and he took a step back, his hands going up as if to do something. This, this was why he didn’t like getting involved. “H- Hinata?” He asked, anxiety creeping up his chest. Damn, why’d he have to follow Hinata? Why couldn’t he just leave this alone?

Hinata collapsed onto the ground, now full on sobbing. “P-please l-leave.”

Against Hinata’s words and Tsukishima’s own thoughts, Tsukishima moved forward. Logically speaking, he couldn’t just leave Hinata on the ground, sobbing. He moved slowly, as if he went any faster he’d spook Hinata like a deer, until he was standing next to him. He lowered himself to the ground so he was sitting. 

“I’m not going to make you tell me what’s wrong.” He wasn’t sure why he was still being so honest. “But you’re not going to convince me that everything is okay. And… I can’t just leave you here, crying.”

He tried to stop crying and tell Tsukishima to leave, but everything that he tried to push away for all these years was back. There was no way he was going to succeed at faking a smile in this moment. 

Awkwardly, as if there was another way to do this, Tsukishima reached out and put a hand on Hinata’s shoulder. That’s what Hinata liked, right? Physical comfort? All he has to go on was the fact that Hinata was a very huggy and touchy person, so it made sense. 

Hinata flinched at the touch before shaking harder, starting to go into an anxiety attack.

Oh shit, oh shit. Tsukishima quickly took his hand away. He may not know much about emotions, but he knew an anxiety attack when he saw one. Oh damn, what do I do? Yamaguchi is much better at dealing with this… 

“Hinata. Hinata!” Tsukishima bent down slightly so he could get in Hinata’s line of sight. “Hinata, look at me. It’s all okay, alright? Just… Just slowly take deep breaths.” 

Yeah, that’s what Yamaguchi said to do, right? Deep breaths. 

“I-I don’t know if I-I can,” Hinata said, his hyperventilation starting to worsen.

“Yes, you can.” Tsukishima nodded, sounding slightly more sure of his own words. “Just do what I do. In,” he took a deep breath in, “and out,” he let it out. He tilted Hinata’s head up, brown eyes meeting golden, and repeated the process, hoping that Hinata would try and follow his lead. 

Hinata started to follow Tsukishima’s breathing, slowly getting his breath back on track. Once he was calmed down, he let himself lay down all the way, exhausted from the breakdown and everything else that happened today. 

“Good, good. You’re doing great,” Tsukishima muttered as Hinata slowly calmed down. The words felt strange on his tongue, like they didn’t belong there. He watched as Hinata managed to get his breathing normal again before laying down. 

They stayed there for a moment, Hinata on the ground and Tsukishima sitting up in silence. Around them the light was fading with the sun setting. “... You can’t stay there forever,” Tsukishima sighed. “Do… Do you need me to help you home? Or call someone to come get you?” 

Where the hell was the nice attitude coming from? Tsukishima felt like he was in someone else’s skin, saying things that they would say instead of himself. 

“My house is over the hills and it’s kind of dark to bike...it’s fine. I like the ground actually. I think I will prove your statement wrong and stay here forever.”

With a snort, Tsukishima rolled his eyes. This was a bit more like the Hinata he was used to. Not exactly, but better than the empty husk that had seemed to replace him earlier. “I’m sure you’ll be saying the same thing when someone runs you over with a car or a bike. You have to go home eventually. Don’t you have a family or shit who’ll worry about you?” 

Getting run over doesn’t seem that bad at the moment. “My mom and my sister may worry I guess…”

Tsukishima groaned as he pulled himself off the ground and dusted the dirt off himself. “Then I guess we better get you home because I doubt at this point you can do it yourself.” He reached down to offer a hand to Hinata. “Preferably without another breakdown, if you don’t mind.”

“If you don’t mind having to sit on the back of my bike, because walking would to take a while…”

“Oh great. I get the honor of riding on the back of the shrimp’s bike. That won’t look ridiculous at all.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “... Fine. Whatever. Let’s get it over with.”

Hinata went to grab his bike from the side of the road and brought it back over. He got onto it and patted the space behind him. “Don’t fall off, we need you to be able to play in our next game.”

Tsukishima sighed as he hopped on. “Good to know that’s the only reason you care, Hinata.” He was tempted to put his headphones on, block all noise and annoyance this ride would surely bring, but the thought of Hinata breaking down again stopped him. He could suffer one bike ride up the mountain, right?

Hinata began to bike home, Tsukishima awkwardly sitting on the back of his bike. “You are pretty light for being so tall,” Hinata told him.

“Like you have room to talk. I think my backpack weighs more than you,” Tsukishima scoffed. He let his thoughts drift slightly as he watched the sunset on the sky above. Night was taking over and even if he wasn’t as exhausted as Hinata, he was pretty tired himself. Thinking of others was hard work.

He realized he wasn’t quite sure how’d he be able to get home from Hinata’s house, his own house was on the opposite side of the mountain, but he probably had enough spare change for a bus. 

Hinata rolled his eyes and continued biking, eventually they arrived at his house. “Do you have a way back?”

Tsukishima hopped off the bike, not giving a glance at the houses around him. He dug into the pockets of his uniform and grimaced. Damn, he didn’t have any change on him. “Um…” He swallowed, not really wanting to admit it. “Not really. I could walk, I guess.”

“If you want, you could just stay over. My mom wouldn’t care,” Hinata said, shrugging. 

Red lit up Tsukishima's face at the idea. He had only stayed over at Yamaguchi’s house and even that was rare. “I- I don’t know.” He looked away. “You’re already hard enough to deal with during the day…” His thoughts drifted back to his empty pockets and the darkening sky. He sighed and looked back at Hinata. “If I’m not a bother I’d appreciate it if I could stay the night.”

“Just don’t be rude around my little sister or you are sleeping outside.”

“I’m not rude to adults or kids. Only idiots like you.” Tsukishima grinned.

Hinata stuck his tongue out at him, before opening the door. “Mom, I’m home!” he called out as he put his bag on the kitchen counter.

Natsu ran out to greet Hinata, when she saw Tsukishima. “Whoa! You’re really tall!”

Tsukishima looked down at the small girl. Almost a carbon copy of her brother. The Hinata family genes must be strong, the thought passed quickly through his head. He offered a small, rare smile down at the girl. “So I’ve been told. And what’s your name?”

“I’m Natsu! Are you friends with my brother? I’ve only seen the scary one come over before.”

“Kageyama isn’t scary, it’s just his face…”

“I’ll make sure to tell your boyfriend you’re sticking up for him even when he isn’t around,” Tsukishima whispered to Hinata before turning back to Natsu. “Well, I hope I’m not as scary as Kageyama. Your brother and I are on the same volleyball team and due to… special circumstances I have to stay the night.”

Tsukishima reached out a hand towards Natsu. “It’s very nice to meet you, Natsu. I’m Tsukishima.” 

While Tsukishima’s attitude was usually bitter and sarcastic, just the way he liked it, he knew that wasn’t the way to act around adults or kids. Kids responded to a friendly, nice attitude, and adults responded to a respectful attitude. It was only kids around his age that truly bothered him (though everyone bothered him at least a little).

Natsu shook his hand happily. “Can you pick me up? I want to be tall too! Nii-chan, why aren’t you this tall?”

Tsukishima hid his laughter behind his hand. “Yeah, Hinata?” He glanced over at him. “Why aren’t you this tall? Here,” he set his bag down and reached down to pick up Natsu, “now we’re both this tall.”

“You are the best Tsukishima! Look how tall I am, Nii-chan!”

Hinata smiled at Natsu, but the moment she turned her head, Hinata shot Tsukishima a glare. “I’m not that short,” he mumbled under his breath.

Tsukishima reached over to pat Hinata’s head. “Sure, Hinata, sure. Hey, Natsu, do you think you’ll grow to be taller than your brother?” He asked with a grin that must have seemed friendly to Natsu, but Tsukishima was sure Hinata knew it to be smug. 

“I definitely will! Our mom says that if I drink a lot of milk, I’ll grow to be tall. Nii-chan just started drinking milk this year when my mom told me that. I thought he didn’t like milk? Nii-chan, didn’t you used to hate milk?”

Tsukishima snickered. “A little late to the game, huh, Hinata? Don’t worry, I won’t tell the King about your hatred of milk. I’m sure he’d find it highly offensive.” 

Hinata crossed his arms. “That wasn’t the reason I started drinking milk. I-um...acquired a taste for it?”

“I’m glad for that.” Tsukishima reposition Natsu to his other arm. “It’d be a wasted effort if you only drank it to get taller.” 

He took a moment to glance around the house, taking in the warm interior. He could hear sounds coming from another room, Hinata’s mom was probably already home. It was… nice. In a strange sense. Different from his or Yamaguchi’s homes. 

“Oi, Hinata. Is there somewhere I could put my bag?” He asked, gently kicking his bag as if to bring attention to it. 

“You can just put it in my room, if you want.”

“If you could show me where it is, I’d love to.” He raised an eyebrow, his ever familiar smirk back on his face. Much more comforting to him than the smile he’d been wearing for Natsu.

“Shouyou? Natsu?” A voice called from the other room. A woman with brown hair peeked in and took in the three kids. “Oh. Hello there. Shouyou, is this a friend of yours?”

“This is Tsukishima, he’s the other middle blocker on the team. He needed a place to stay tonight, so I invited him over. That’s ok, right?”

“Sorry for the intrusion.” Tsukishima bowed his head slightly before she could respond. 

She sighed slightly and leaned against the doorway. “Oh, well… alright. You know I like it better when you ask beforehand, Shouyou, but if you do need a place to stay tonight, Tsukishima, we’re more than happy to have you.” She offered a smile that matched her son’s. 

“Thank you.” Tsukishima nodded. 

“Dinner will be ready soon, okay? And Natsu, please try not to bother the boys too much. Don’t think I haven’t forgotten the fight you and Hinata had last time Kageyama was here.” She gave them a stern look before smiling again. “It’s so very nice to meet you, Tsukishima.” 

“You as well.” He called after her as she turned and walked away.

“I’ll show you my room and you can put your bag in there,” Hinata said, grabbing his own bag and walking to the hallway. Tsukishima followed behind him as Hinata opened the door to his room. “Well, here it is.”

Tsukishima set Natsu down outside Hinata’s room before stepping in. It looked smaller than his own room and messier too. He set his bag down next to Hinata’s bed and started walking around the space, taking it all in. 

“Nice room you got,” was all he said in return. 

“It’s all right,” Hinata told him, shrugging. “By the way, Kageyama is not and will never be my boyfriend. I’m pretty sure he is sexually attracted to volleyballs anyways.”

Tsukishima snorted and looked away. “You’re probably right, but that doesn’t stop you from acting like boyfriends. You’re always together, I’m surprised you two haven’t been caught making out on the roof yet.” He grinned at Hinata. 

“People say the same thing about you and Yamaguchi, you know?”

He shrugged. “I’d believe that. We’ve known each other since grade school and he’s always… stuck close by. Though I’m sure Yamaguchi isn’t sexually attracted to volleyballs, so maybe I have a bit more to worry about than you do.” 

This felt wrong. Standing around in Hinata’s room. Joking around with him. Actually talking. What was wrong with him? He frowned, realizing how off he’d felt all day. 

Hinata rolled his eyes at the frown. “You know Tsukishima, you are allowed to enjoy other people’s company without being ashamed, right?”

Tsukishima stiffened. What the hell was this kid, a mind reader? “I- I’m not ashamed. Or enjoying anything.” He looked away. If he admitted it to Hinata then it felt like he was admitting defeat in a way. 

What kind of effect was spending time with him having on Tsukishima?

“Nope, you are just enjoying my company.”

Stubborn, wasn’t he? Then again, Hinata was always stubborn about everything. “No I’m not.” He shot Hinata a glare. “Maybe I’d actually enjoy it, though, if you told me what’s wrong.” He quickly walked towards the door, brushing past Hinata, feeling like if he stayed in the room any longer he’d suffocate. 

“Yes, because hearing a horrific story is so enjoyable,” Hinata muttered to himself, before walking out the door as well.

Tsukishima huffed, but stayed quiet, not going to give Hinata the win of a response. He followed Hinata to the dining room where his mother was putting out food. With any luck this would be a quick, relatively quiet dinner. 

“I want Tsukishima to sit next to me!” Natsu announced when the boys walked into the room.

Tsukishima nodded and walked over to the girl. “Okay, Natsu.” He smiled again, no matter how exhausting it felt. All he had to do was get through the night and then Hinata could deal with his own damn problems. 

“Thank you for dinner mom!” Hinata said, before digging into his food.

“Thank you for dinner, ma'am.” Tsukishima nodded before slowly picking at his food. He glanced over at Hinata, not sure if he was glad or not that his disgusting eating habits at least hadn’t faded. He was hungry enough with missing most of lunch, but he wasn’t going to start eating like Hinata. 

“Oh, you boys are very welcome.” Hinata’s mom smile back at them, oblivious to the tension between both boys. 

They made small talk as they finished up their food. Once they were done, Hinata and Tsukishima headed back to his room. “So, we are going to try to find out what will fit you pajama wise. Hmm...this sweatshirt is a bit big on me, you can try that on?”

The air around them remained tense through the whole thing. Tsukishima could feel it grow as they went back to Hinata’s room. Standing in the middle of the room, Tsukishima refused to look at anything particular. 

He took the sweatshirt from Hinata without making eye contact and held it up. He doubted it would fit, even slightly big on Hinata was pretty small on Tsukishima. “I’ll try it on, whatever.” He sighed and placed the sweatshirt on the bed before unbuttoning his uniform shirt and pulling that off. 

“I doubt it’ll fit,” he continued, pulling his undershirt over his head and off as well, “but it’s worth a shot.” He took a breath before tugging the sweatshirt over his head. 

It wasn’t a great fit. It hardly covered his torso and barely reached his wrists. Tsukishima looked down at himself and then glanced up at Hinata, raising an eyebrow. 

“It’s not my fault you are freakishly tall. At least you’re skinny enough that it isn’t too tight?”

“And it’s not my fault you’re freakishly short, but here we are. It’ll do.” He sighed and tugged the bottom of the sweatshirt down a bit more. “I can just wear my practice shorts or something.”

“Aren’t they sweaty?” Hinata asked, crinkling his nose. 

“Probably.” Tsukishima shrugged. “Do you have a better option? Cause the shirt you gave me hardly fits, I don’t have high hopes for any pants you might have. I can suffer through it for just one night, Hinata.”

“You aren’t getting my futon covered in sweat.” Hinata continued to look through his drawers. “Ooo! You can wear this!” Hinata held up one of Kageyama’s shirts that he must have left there.

“I’m not wearing your boyfriend’s clothes,” Tsukishima automatically deadpanned.

“First, stop calling him my boyfriend. Me dating Kageyama is disgusting. Second, it’s washed and it will fit you, so why does it matter? It’s just a shirt, are you afraid of cooties or something?” Hinata teased.

Tsukishima’s eyes widened and his face lit up a bright red. “Why you little-” he stomped over to Hinata and grabbed the shirt from him with a glare. “Fine. I’ll wear your not boyfriend’s shirt, but only so you’ll stop being an idiot for five minutes.” He hissed before pulling off the sweatshirt he originally had on. This shirt came on easier and was a much better fit. “There, happy? I’ll just go without the shorts since I now have a shirt that actually fits.”

“I’m happy that my futon will be sweat free.” Hinata walked back over to his drawer and got himself some pajamas, before beginning to take off his shirt.

Tsukishima was in the middle of taking off his pants when he glanced up long enough to notice something very wrong with Hinata. Dark marks, bruises, were scattered all along his upper body. Tsukishima found himself frozen in place, unable to look away from the patterns of oddly finger shaped bruises. 

“Hinata… What the fuck?” Tsukishima whispered.

“Wha- oh…” Hinata looked into the mirror and saw all of the marks. He hadn’t had a chance to look yet, so this was his time seeing it as well.

Tsukishima couldn’t look away, eyes trailing over the patterns of bruises and scratches along Hinata’s body. “Hinata,” when he spoke his voice was low and sharp, he stood still as a rock, “I’m being serious now. What the hell is going on?”

“I-I…” Tears started to fall down Hinata’s face again. “I can’t t-tell you...h-he’ll kill me if I d-do…”

“Who will?” Tsukishima demanded, his voice harsher than he’d like it to be. He reached out and gently grabbed Hinata’s arm, minding the bruises. “He won’t kill you if he doesn’t know I know. I won’t- I won’t tell anyone, okay? So long as you tell me who did this.”

“Y-you really can’t tell anyone. You need to s-swear to me that you won’t. I’m not j-joking around when I say he m-may kill me if I t-tell you…”

“I won’t tell anyone. I… I promise.” He sighed. Except maybe the police, he added in his own thoughts. “Just tell me who did this, Hinata.”

“It s-started back in second grade. I had a teacher, who would um harass me in a s-sexual manner...I n-never told anyone and it’s been in the back of my head for years. We got a new teacher, as you know, and that teacher happens to be the t-teacher I had in second grade. A-apparently he is teaching high school now. Just my luck, right? So, I’m back to g-getting private um, tutoring lessons with h-him…”

Oh fuck. This wasn’t what Tsukishima expected at all. He had thought maybe an upperclassman thought Hinata would be a good target for bullying and he’d just have to tell the team. Or maybe something was wrong with Hinata’s home life and he could just leave it at that. But this? How the hell do you deal with this?

“So he’s sexually harassing you again.” Tsukishima spoke, sounding much calmer on the outside than he was on the inside. “Hinata… You have to tell someone; your parents, the principal, the police.

“No! I c-can’t tell, Tsukishima. I can’t. He will kill me. I t-tried to tell someone last time and it w-went super badly. I d-don’t want to go through that again, I can’t go through that again. I still have nightmares about that to this d-day. P-please don’t tell.” Hinata was full on crying at this point, stuttering out all of his words.

Softly Tsukishima swore under his breath. So convincing Hinata of telling someone was out for now. What else could he do? He was just a first year in high school, it wasn’t like he had a lot of power to help. “Alright, alright.” He sighed. “I won’t tell, okay? We don’t have to tell anyone.”

“T-thank you…”

Tsukishima just nodded before taking a step closer to get a better look at the bruises. “Hinata how the hell did you manage to get through practice with these? They look awful.” He wrinkled his nose. “Where does it hurt the most?” 

“Well the place where it hurts the most is kind of embarrassing...but the next worse are my ribs.” 

“Right. Go lay down, I’m going to get some ice. When we were younger Yamaguchi used to get beat up all the time, but I still remember how to treat bruises.” Tsukishima sighed. “Try not falling or anything stupid that mess you up even more.”

Hinata wiped his remaining tears away, then nodded and went to go lay down.

Tsukishima peeked out the door, looking to see if Hinata’s mom or Natsu were still up. He wasn’t exactly sure what excuse he could use to explain why he was getting ice, so he’d rather just avoid the confrontation all together. He slipped out of the room and hurried down the hall. In the kitchen it took longer to find a towel then he would’ve liked, but he quickly managed to use it to wrap up some ice and hurry back to the room. 

“Here,” Tsukishima offered the makeshift ice pack to Hinata, shutting the door behind him. “Don’t press it too hard into your ribs or it’ll hurt worse.”

Hinata took the ice and followed Tsukishima’s directions. “Thank you. It’s actually kind of nice to have one person know. I mean it’s also terrifying because it’s easier for someone to find out, but for some odd reason I trust you with this.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “Trusting me. How strange.” He sat on the other end of the bed and sighed. “Why? Why tell me over Kageyama or… hell, anyone else on the team? We’re not friends. You don’t like me, I don’t like you. I don’t get it, Hinata.”

“All the first years, besides you, would panic badly, the second years would try to fight Haizaki Sensei, and the third years would tell the police right away. You are the only one, who could keep a calm head about this.”

“Still can’t believe you’d trust me.” Tsukishima muttered. “Or that you’re actually thinking about this logically. Didn’t know you had it in you, especially after seeing your tests scores last summer… What are you going to do, then?”

“About the situation? I can’t exactly do anything about it. I’ll just suck it up and hope that I get a new teacher next year. There is nothing else that he can do to make it worse than it already is, besides actually killing me. Actually, that would probably be better than this.”

“Hm. Hearing quitter talk from you would normally be funny Hinata, if what you were talking about wasn’t so messed up.” Tsukishima admitted. “But you’re seriously going there? Let’s just all give up and embrace death. If you’re going to go down that route then you might as well tell someone.”

“I’m not saying I want to die. I’m saying that it would be less painful. I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, which is why we can’t tell anyone.”

“Fine, Hinata, fine.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “We won’t tell anyone… How’re your ribs feeling? Is the ice helping?”

“They are feeling a bit better, still sore, but better than before definitely. It’s just going to happen again tomorrow though...Remind me to bring pain medication to school.”

Tsukishima grit his teeth. “Fine.” He sat in silence, staring at the groves and patterns on Hinata’s floor, trying to forget to think. This was too much to process in such a short amount of time. Way too much. He wasn’t sure if he could take it. 

Who cares if you can take it? Hinata is the one going through it, he reminded himself. He wanted to tear his hair out in frustration.

“So...do you want to sleep, watch a movie, or?” Hinata asked, breaking the silence. 

He huffed out a laugh. “A movie?... Yeah, sure. Why not? Some sense of normality would be nice.” He nodded and leaned his head back, glancing over at Hinata from the corner of his eyes. “You have one in mind?”

“I don’t really mind either way.” Hinata got off his bed, putting the ice on the floor, and walked to one of his drawers. He pulled it out and went through some of the movies. “I have Avengers, Saw, Jurassic Park, 22 Jump Street…”

“Jurassic Park.” Tsukishima said the title so fast he wasn’t sure if he’d even bothered separating the two words. He sucked in a quick breath, hoping to bite back most of his enthusiasm that always seemed to jump to the surface when dinosaurs were involved. Damned childhood obsession he never grew out of. “Yes, Jurassic Park. Yes.” 

Hinata chuckled, smiling at Tsukishima. “I’m guessing we are watching Jurassic Park then?”

He nodded, a bit eager than he’d usually like, but it was late and he had had enough of the day so Jurassic Park sounded like the best possible thing. “Yes, we are.”

Hinata put the movie in and settled on the bed with Tsukishima. “I do really like this movie as well, I think dinosaurs are super cool. They are all like rawr! and stuff! I would totally have a pet dinosaur, not the meat eating kind...but T-rexes are super rad too!”

“Exactly!” Tsukishima found himself nodding along to what Hinata was saying, for a moment feeling like a little kid again. “No one understands how interesting and cool dinosaurs really are!” 

“I read an article one time that some dinosaurs could have had feathers. That would be so cool! Maybe some were like crows!? We could be the Karasuno dinosaurs then!”

Tsukishima brought up his hand to hide a small laugh at the idea. “Wait, you read an article about dinosaurs? It- it has been proven they had feathers! And scientists are able to tell the colors and what they looked like. And it makes sense because it’s been suggested that birds are descendants from dinosaurs.” 

For a brief second it didn’t really feel like he was himself and talking to Hinata. It felt like he was little again, talking to anybody who’d listen about his endless facts. 

“That’s amazing! How do you know all of this?” Hinata asked, in awe.

“I’ve spent… some time into researching.” Tsukishima admitted, looking away with a faint smile. “I got really into dinosaurs as a kid and my brother only fueled it by buying me a bunch of books on the subject. Guess I never fully got out of that phase.”

Hinata smiled widely. “Dinosaurs aren’t just a little kid thing though, there is so much to learn about them! Yeah they look cool and are all whoa when you are young, but when you get older you get to learn so much more about them and actually understand it...or most of it at least..”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at that. Hinata saying something actually pretty smart, this day was just full of surprises. He nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, why do you know some facts about dinosaurs? You mentioned an article, but at least I have a reason to have these facts on hand.”

Hinata shrugged. “When I think a subject is cool, I usually check it out a bit. I suck at studying for school, but I love learning about things I’m actually interested in.”

“You do suck at studying for school,” he muttered under his breath, smirking at Hinata. The noise of the movie started interrupted their conversation, drawing Tsukishima’s attention away from the red head for a moment.

“Oh crap, I forgot the movie was on!”

“Of course you’d be the one to actually turn on the movie then forget it was one.” Tsukishima teased, settling into a comfortable position on the bed.

“Hey you got distracted too!” Hinata told him, before settling more comfortably as well.

Tsukishima had another teasing remark on the tip of his tongue, but before he could say it he found himself being sucked into the movie. He must’ve seen Jurassic Park dozens of times, but it always managed to capture his attention. As the movie went on he found he didn’t realize that he was smiling while watching it, enjoying himself in someone else’s company for once.

After the movie ended, Hinata yawned and leaned against Tsukishima’s shoulder. “I love that movie,” Hinata said, sleepily.

Tsukishima stiffened when he felt Hinata lean against him. He glanced down, unsure if he should push him off or if, given the day's events, that would be too harsh. “Yeah,” he muttered, unable to look away, “me too. Do- do you have a spare futon around here I could sleep on?”

“There should be one in the closet, if you want to go grab it?”

“Um, yeah.” He nodded and gently pushed Hinata off him. Quickly he walked across the room, hoping to forget that small exchange in the morning. It took only a second to find the futon and pull it out. He laid it out on the floor, next to Hinata’s bed. “There we go.”

Hinata got under his covers and laid his head down onto the pillow. “Goodnight Tsukishima…”

“... Night, Hinata.” Tsukishima whispered as he got under his own covers. He rolled over so his back was facing Hinata and he could stare at the darkness that surrounded them.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Hinata’s alarm went off and he reluctantly opened his eyes. He looked down to see Tsukishima still asleep. Hinata leaned down to lightly shake him. “Tsukishima wake up, we have to get ready to leave for school.”

Tsukishima only groaned in response, reaching back to push Hinata away. He turned his head to bury it into this pillow, hiding his face away from the early morning.

“Tsukishimaaaa, wake up!” When he didn’t move, Hinata grabbed his pillow and whacked him with it.

“Ack- hey!” Tsukishima cried out, turning around and reaching out to stop Hinata’s pillow attack. He glared up at him, a glare that was hardly scary due to Tsukishima’s ever present morning sleepiness. “I’m up, I’m up. Jeez, Hinata.” 

“I had to do something, you weren’t moving. Now come on, let’s get ready.”

Tsukishima pulled himself up, grumbling a few choice words under his breath before gathering his clothes and starting to change. “How much time do we have to get to school anyway?” He asked through a yawn.

“We have around an hour, but it takes longer to get to school from my house then from yours,” Hinata told him, beginning to change into his uniform.

“I figured. It took forever to get here yesterday.” He rolled his eyes, pulling his jacket on. “Do we have time to get some breakfast or? I don’t exactly know your morning schedule and I’d prefer to know if I have to wait until lunch to eat something.” 

“My mom usually makes waffles or something in the morning and sets them out for me to grab, just in case I run late. Are you okay with waffles?”

“I’m fine with anything.” Tsukishima shrugged. He grabbed his bag and pulled it onto his shoulder. “Ready to go when you are.”

“Okay! Oh wait pain medication, I’ll go grab it real quick. You can get your waffle now if you want?”

“Sure, sure.” Tsukishima nodded and headed towards the kitchen. “Don’t take too much, Hinata. I’m not dragging your ass to a hospital or anything.” 

The kitchen was completely empty, as seemed the rest of the house. A plate of waffles were laid out on the counter just as Hinata said. He grabbed one, not really caring what he ate as long as he got something. 

Hinata put the pain medication into his backpack and headed into the kitchen. “Shall we?” he asked, grabbing the other waffle and taking a bite out of it.

Tsushima sighed and took a bite out of his own waffle. “Yeah. Am I going to have to ride on the back of your bike again?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Hinata asked, raising an eyebrow.

He opened the front door for them, shivering as the brisk early morning air hit him full force. “No. Just double checking. I’m not riding into the school on the back of your bike, though. I’ll just get off a block away from the entrance.” 

“You don’t want to show off how cool your are riding on the back of my bike?” Hinata asked, chuckling.

Tsukishima glared again, a much better one this time. “Shut up, Hinata.”

Hinata laughed and got onto his bike, waiting for Tsukishima to join him. Once he got on, they started off to school, stopping a block away. “This is your stop.”

Tsukishima hopped off the bike and stretched. “Thanks for the ride.” He turned to start walking to the school, but suddenly stopped himself and looked back at Hinata. “Are you sure… you’ll be alright today?”

“Honestly probably not, but I can’t really do anything about it. I have pain medication, so I’ll be good for practice at least.”

“Right. Don’t overwork yourself or anything. If you do you, won’t be able to explain it to coach and I’m not helping you out of that one.” He shot him an annoyed look, hopefully to make up for how nice he had been for the past few hours, before turning and hurrying to school.

Hinata rolled his eyes and continued to school. Once he got there, he parked his bike and made it up to class. He repeated what he did yesterday and didn’t make eye contact with Haizaki Sensei all day. Class eventually finished and Hinata waited behind, not wanting to make Haizaki more upset than usual.

Tsukishima had spent the whole day on edge. He wasn’t quite sure why, he knew it was bullshit for him to be the one on edge when nothing was going to happen to him, but every time he started to relax he’d remember the bruises covering Hinata’s skin. He’d remember Hinata was only a few doors down from him, stuck with a horrifying teacher. 

When the bell finally did ring Tsukishima practically jumped out of his seat, offering to meet Yamaguchi at practice before hurrying out of the room. Students flooded into the halls as Tsukishima pushed past them, heading towards a specific classroom. 

“Oh, Hinata,” Haizaki called when the bell rang. He smiled at the young boy and beckoned him over. “Don’t forget, we have another tutoring session today.”

Hinata gulped, before walking towards Haizaki, waiting for the remaining students to leave.

Haizaki watched as the rest of his students hurried out, excited to get home or just get out of class. His smile widened once the door was haphazardly thrown shut. “Ah, Shouyou,” he purred and reached out to hold Hinata’s wrist, “I had forgotten how much I missed this time with you. Yesterday was such fun. Now,” his grip on Hinata’s wrist tightened, “you haven’t told anyone, right?”

Hinata quickly shook his head.

“Good, good. Such a good boy, Shouyou,” Haizaki purred. “I hope you’re prepared for today’s lesson.” 

Severals students brushed past Tsukishima in their hurry to leave, but he kept heading forward toward Hinata’s classroom. He almost stopped dead when he spotted the familiar red hair though the slight gap in the door. Just in time, he thought as he stepped up and knocked on the door. 

Silence followed, so Tsukishima took to opportunity to slide open the door to peek into the room. He held back a sneer when he saw the way the teacher was holding Hinata’s wrist. “Ah, pardon the intrusion. Sorry to interrupt, but I really need to borrow Hinata for a few minutes. Unfortunately the keys to the gym went missing and everyone on the team has to go looking.” 

“Oh, um I guess I have to go…” Hinata said, moving his wrist away and slowly making his way to the door.

Haizaki let go of Hinata’s wrist with a frown. He glared at the blond student for a moment, taking in his unfamiliar features, before plastering a smile on his face. “How unfortunate. Well, seeing as this is an emergency, I can let Hinata go this time. But don’t go skipping on me frequently, Hinata, we wouldn’t want your grades to drop.” 

“Thank you, Sensei.” Tsukishima said through gritted teeth. He reached over and grabbed Hinata’s hand, practically pulling him out of the room and away from the teacher as quickly as possible. 

Once they were far enough away, Hinata ripped his hand away from Tsukishima’s. “What the hell was that?” Hinata whispered, angrily.

“What the hell do you think it was, idiot?” Tsukishima hissed back, glaring down at him. “I just saved your ass, the least you could do is not get pissed. I didn’t tell anyone about what’s going on, but you think- you think that I’d just let this happen? Do you think you can just try and get me to care about something and then expect me not to do anything?”

“He could be suspicious that I told you now! Look, I really appreciate it Tsukishima, but I don’t want you getting hurt as well. He gets so much worse when he’s mad and it’s horrible for all involved.”

“Yeah, Hinata, I get it. He’s big and scary and angry, I get it. But what else do you expect me to do? What would you do if it was someone else? If it was Kageyama or Suga? What the hell would you do then?” Tsukishima kept his voice low, an angry hiss to make sure there was no chance of anyone hearing them. 

“I don’t know. All I know is, I don’t want you hurt because of me.”

“You’re impossible, you know that?” Tsukishima rested his hands on his hips. “I’m trying -- fuck, I don’t even know what I’m trying to do -- but I want to help but you won’t let me.”

Hinata sighed. “I’m sorry, I know that you’re just trying to help. I just, I don’t know what you can do to help.” Hinata paused for a moment, before continuing. “You can try to help though, if you want to. Just don’t tell anyone no matter what, ok?”

“I haven’t. I won’t.” Tsukishima clenched his teeth. It isn’t so much that I want to, probably, but more that I have to. “Just make sure you don’t freak out next time I try to help.”

Hinata nodded. “We should probably head to practice now. I really don’t want to be late now that I know I can arrive on time.”

“Right.” Tsukishima relaxed slightly at the option of doing something normal. Normal was good. They could both use a big dose of it. “Don’t forget your pain medication.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder!” Hinata pulled the container out of his bag and quickly dry swallowed the pills. “Ready?”

“Sure, fine.” Tsukishima nodded, already coming up with half a dozen excuses in his head for why he and Hinata were arriving at the same time, together. A part of him felt like he’d be coming up with a lot of excuses in the days ahead.

They hurried off to practice, making it there just in time to change. 

“Hinata, why are you hanging out with this asshole?” Kageyama asked, as Hinata and Tsukishima walked in together.

“Funny, isn’t that what people usually think when they see you two together?” Tsukishima sneered at Kageyama. “I forgot one of my books in the classroom and we happened to bump into each other on the way here.” 

“Why you little-”

“Break it up you two and get ready for practice,” Daichi said as he entered the changing room, crossing his arms. 

Tsukishima smirked at Kageyama before quickly changing. Yamaguchi shot him an odd look, which he pointedly ignored in favor for getting out of the changing room quickly. He hurried past everyone with Yamaguchi hurrying behind.

Hinata waited for the others to finish changing, before he changed, not wanting the others to question his bruises. He made his way to the gym and started the practice, happy that the pain medication was kicking in.

He couldn’t help but keep an eye on Hinata during practice. He tried to do it as subtlety as possible, knowing that if someone asked it’d lead to a series of questions he didn’t even want to think about answering. At least, it seemed, the pain medication was working. 

It felt like practice went on forever. Not that was unusual, with the antics that usually happened time would often drag on, but this time felt worse. Like Tsukishima was waiting for something to happen.

Thankfully something didn’t. But the feeling didn’t disappear. 

After practice finished up, Hinata went to help take down the nets. He wanted to stay as long as possible, since he knew that he wouldn’t be at practices as often anymore. Daichi eventually made everyone leave the gym, Hinata being the last to leave. 

Tsukishima didn’t waste time lingering in the gym, instead taking a rather lengthy time to get changed. Enough time for him to get one last look at Hinata before leaving with Yamaguchi.


	4. Chapter 4

The following day went by slowly, but it finally came to an end. The bell rang and everyone started heading out. Hinata knew it was no use, but he tried to sneak out with the other students anyways.

“Hinata.” Haizaki called out, quickly eying down the redhead in the crowd. His tone wasn’t coated with it’s fake pleasantness as it had been before. Now it held an edge, one that others could brush off as just a teacher preparing to scold a student. “Please stay after class today. To make up for yesterday.” 

“Y-yes Sensei,” Hinata said, walking back into the room.

At the sound of another student possibly getting scolded, the others quickly filed out of the room this time, not wanting to be caught in the backlash. It took almost no time for the classroom to become empty. Still. Tense. 

“Ah, Shouyou.” Haizaki sighed. “I still remember you from second grade. You were such a lively student… Out there, talking to everyone, but strangely enough no close friends. Not like your new tall, blond one.” His voice sharpened at the mention of Tsukishima. “Would I happen to know him?”

Hinata’s eyes widened at the mention of Tsukishima. “He’s in another class, so you w-wouldn’t know him.”

“How unfortunate. Especially since you two seem to be such good friends.” Haizaki stood and walked around the desk, moving closer to Hinata. “And he seemed eager to get you out of here in a hurry. He wouldn’t happen to… know anything? Would he? Or! Or,” he hissed, “you’re making me share you? Letting him touch you the same way I do, Shouyou?”

“Tsukishima just happens to be on the same volleyball team as me. You are the only one, who touches me like this, Sensei. He is just a t-teammate…” Hinata tried to stay as calm as possible, not wanting to upset Haizaki more. 

Haizaki took another step towards Hinata, glaring down at him. “Just a teammate, huh? You’ve lied to me before, Shouyou. When you said you wouldn’t try to tell anyone before. And I know what can happen between ‘teammates’, especially in a changing room. Now,” he grabbed Hinata’s hand, the same one Tsukishima grabbed to pull Hinata out of the classroom the day before, “where did he touch you?”

“He didn’t touch me! The only one that has ever touched me is you, I told you that.”

He squeezed Hinata’s hand with the force of his bubbling anger. “And I don’t believe you! You’re mine. Do you understand? Mine!”

Hinata started tearing up. “I’m yours…”

Haizaki grinned; an unsettling grin that stretched across his face. “Say it again for me, Shouyou.”

“I-I’m yours, Haizaki Sensei.”

He didn’t let up his hold on Hinata’s hand, but brought his free hand up to cup Hinata’s face. “Good boy, Shouyou. You learn so fast. Now, any time you’re around your teammate, I want you to remember that. That you’re mine. Think you can do that?” 

Hinata nodded, trying his best not to full out cry.

“Good,” Haizaki breathed out the word like a sigh of relief. He moved his hand up to tangle his fingers in Hinata’s red locks. “All mine.” 

Life was worry and life was hell, at least for the past few days of Tsukishima. Bound away with information he couldn’t share, and now not being able to get Hinata away from his fuck of a teacher? Tsukishima wasn’t used to worrying about someone this long. 

If only Yamaguchi hadn’t asked to borrow one of Tsukishima’s books that was stashed away in his locker. He had no good excuse to run off after that and was forced to arrive on practice on time. While practice now was slowly coming to an end and Hinata still hadn’t show up. 

He could only image the hell Hinata’s life had turned into.

Hinata woke up in his classroom, it was completely empty. He remembered that it got to a point where the pain got too much. Guess I passed out. Hinata tried to move off of the desk, but everything hurt. He ended up falling onto the floor, not able to move. Great, just great. He saw his clothes off to the side and his phone was still in the back pocket of his pants. If I can reach, I can see if Tsukishima is still here. If he is, he can at least help me get up so that I can go home. He reached out and inched his body to his clothes. “Got it!” He grabbed his phone and quickly dialed in Tsukishima’s number.

Practice had dragged on and a sick feeling had been building in Tsukishima’s stomach with every second Hinata didn’t walk through the door. Anything could have happened to him. 

In the changing room the atmosphere felt different. Maybe with the whole club, as no one knew where Hinata had gone off too, or maybe he was just feeling a side effect of his nevers. He had just pulled on his jacket and picked up his bag when he noticed his phone in his bag lighting up. 

“I’ll be right back,” he muttered to Yamaguchi while picking up his phone before walking outside. He shut the door completely before speaking. “Hello?”

“Are you still at school?”

“Hinata? When did you get my number- no, where the hell are you? You missed practice, everyone’s been freaking out! Did- did something happen?” Tsukishima hissed into the phone, side eyeing the door as if the team members inside were still able to hear him.

“I have everyone on the team’s phone number, I got them from Sugawara-senpai at the beginning of the year. Anyways, do you think you could do me a favor?”

Does everyone on the team have my phone number? Great. “Only if you tell me where the hell you are.”

“That’s part of the favor I’m asking for. I can’t exactly get up at the moment...I passed out during it and I just woke up. I was hoping that maybe you could help me get up? It hurts really badly when I try to move and I could barely reach my pants to grab my phone and call you. I just, I don’t think I’ll be able to get up on my own. If you can’t or don’t want to, it’s fine. This isn’t your responsibility anyways.”

“Oh jeez- fuuu- okay, okay. Oh my god, you passed out? I swear to- fine. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” Tsukishima reassured him, not bothering to tell the others where he was going as he hurried down from the changing room towards the main school building. 

He practically ran up to Hinata’s classroom, scanning the halls for any signs that Hinata’s teacher was lurking around. Probably looking for other kids, he thought with a sneer. When he got to Hinata’s classroom he knocked once from habit before bursting in. 

“Tsukishima, is that you?” Hinata asked, attempting to turn his body around to face him.

“Yes, yes, it’s me. Oh my god, Hinata, don’t try to move.” Tsukishima muttered, shutting the door before hurrying over to the boy. He flinched when he saw the state of Hinata, and looked away. “What- what do you need me to do?” 

“Could you um, toss me my clothes. I think I might be able to get them on if I don’t stand up. The standing part, I’m going to need help with in a second…”

“Yeah, sure, yeah.” He mumbled, gathering Hinata’s clothes and handing them over. “I’ll just… turn around. Say something. If you need help.”

Hinata, after a few painful tries, was able to get his underwear and pants on. He tried to get his shirt over his head, but it hurt to raise his arms on his own. “Tsukishima, I um, can’t get my shirt on…”

Tsukishima sighed, his shoulders dropping. He turned and walked over to Hinata, sitting down next to him. “Okay, here.” He held out his hand for the shirt. “I can’t promise this won’t hurt. Where does it hurt worst?” He glanced down at Hinata’s torso, flinching at the scratches and bruises and marks. 

“My um ribs again and my hips really hurt. Oh, and it hurts to move my arms higher than right below my chest. S-sorry for making you come up here and help me…”

“If that’s the case then you’re not getting your shirt on… Wait a second.” He sat back and pulled off his jacket. “Wear this. It’ll be huge on you, but you can zip it up and you won’t have to lift you arms up. And don’t apologize for asking me to come up here.” He glared, but a softer glare than his usual ones. 

If anything you should apologize for not letting me go to the police, he thought, bitter even in his head.

“T-thanks Tsukishima.” Hinata gave him a small smile. “Do you think you could help me up?”

He nodded and looked away before getting up. “How do you want to do this? I’m sure you’re more than light enough for me to pick up, but I’m not sure that’d be the best option. Can you even walk?”

“I’m honestly not sure...do you want to try lifting me and then see if I can walk?” 

“That sounds good, I guess.” Tsukishima nodded before bending down and trying to lift Hinata up in the least painful way possible. 

Hinata squeezed his eyes, trying to ignore the pain in his sides. “O-okay, try lowering me to the ground to see if I can walk or at least put pressure on my feet.”

“Right, right.” Tsukishima nodded, slowly lowering Hinata to the ground. It seemed they were both lucky Hinata was pretty light, or this would be a huge pain in the ass. He gently placed Hinata on his feet, arms ready to catch him just in case.

Hinata let out a yelp the moment his feet touched the floor. 

Tsukishima lifted Hinata back up again in a flash; an instant, instinctive reaction. “You okay?”

“I don't think walking is going to be happening…” Hinata looked to the ground and sighed. “I’m disgusting aren't I?”

“No, but your teacher sure as hell is.” Tsukishima frowned. “Do you think you could hop on my back or something? Like hold on and I carry you the way home or something? Cause if you can’t walk it’s a big problem.”

“I think so…how am I going to explain why I can't walk though?”

“I dunno. You… got sick. So you went home early but you… tripped. And sprained your ankle?” Tsukishima suggested. “Rough draft of an idea. Feel free to edit.” He set Hinata down on a desk before turning around. “Well, hop on.” 

Hinata did what Tsukishima asked and was able to get onto his back, holding onto him tightly. “Are you going to attempt to walk all the way back to my place with me on your back?”

“Hell no. You have to call your mom or something. Say you got hurt and are staying with me for the night because we can’t get you over the mountain. Or say whatever you want. I don’t care, as long as it involves me not carrying you that far.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes as he started out of the classroom. 

“Okay...thank you again. I hope I’m not a nuisance to have over. I really don’t want your parents to hate me or something.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Tsukishima grumbled. “They love when I bring anyone over.”

“Has anyone else on the team, besides Yamaguchi, been to your house before?”

“... No.” Tsukishima shook his head. “Why would anyone else on the team come over?”

“I don’t know, you talk to Ennoshita sometimes? Never mind, are we close?”

“Ennoshita is the only other really calm person on the team, that doesn’t mean he’s been over.” Tsukishima sighed and glanced back at Hinata. “I don’t know, are we? Aren’t you the one that suppose to be good at relationships and shit?”

“I meant are we close to your house…”

“... Shut the hell up.” Tsukishima grumbled, blushing brightly. It wasn’t his fault he misunderstood Hinata, that idiot was the one talking about who Tsukishima hung out with… Whatever, he thought as he mentally kicked himself.

Hinata giggled to himself at the sight of Tsukishima’s blushing. “So are we then?”

“Yeah. Unlike some people, I live close to the school I go to,” Tsukishima grumbled. He would’ve looked back to glare at Hinata for laughing, but he was sure if he did he’d just blush again. 

Hinata rolled his eyes at the comment. “At least I start my morning with some exercise, so I’m able to keep up with the team when doing running exercises. What place were you in last time Tsukishima?”

“I was place I don’t give a fuck.” Tsukishima shrugged. “Just because I don’t constantly over do it like you doesn’t mean I don’t exercise. It’s just not my whole life, unlike some people. Seriously, do you have a life outside of volleyball?” 

“I actually do have a life outside of volleyball, thank you very much. I babysit my sister, I hang out with Kageyama, I read comic books, and Kenma has been teaching me how to play video games. What do you even do with your spare time?”

“Not going to lie, Hinata, I might have to sit down. It’s a bit too surprising. What do I do? Why would I want to tell you that?” Tsukishima shot a smirk over his shoulder. 

“Shut up, if anyone doesn’t have a life outside of volleyball, it’s Kageyama. I’ve tried talking to him about different things, but he always brings it back to volleyball. I mean, it doesn’t bother me since I love it too, but it sometimes gets annoying…”

“Isn’t that why you two get along? You two seemed to kind of hate each other out of it at first. Is that why he isn’t your boyfriend?” Tsukishima teased. “If only he talked about something other than volleyball.”

“He isn’t my type, plus he is my best friend. It would be too weird to date him. Why do you keep bringing that up anyways? Ooo are you jealous or something?” Hinata teased.

“Hah, yeah right. I just like riling you up.” Tsukishima shrugged. Had he been bringing it up a lot?

“Whatever you say, Tsukishima,” Hinata told him, smirking. “Is this your house?”

“Shut up, Hinata.” He hissed before turning to walk up to the house Hinata had noticed. The lights were on, causing Tsukishima to frown. Looks like his hopes of no one there to annoy them had been dashed. “Just… Just stay quiet while we go inside and there shouldn’t be a problem.” 

Hinata nodded and let Tsukishima take him inside, looking around at his house.

It was a slightly smaller house, very clean and organized. Tsukishima moved quickly, slipping off his shoes before hurrying upstairs. “I’m home,” he called out on his way up. He almost slipped on the last step, not used to having to carry someone up the stairs on his back, but still managed to quickly make it to his room. 

“Alright, Hinata,” he sighed and kicked his door shut. “I’ll just set you down on the bed.” 

“I like your room,” Hinata said, smiling. “The dinosaur figurines are super cool! Did you order them special or did you collect them over time?”

He set Hinata on the bed, following his gaze to the dinosaurs. “Um, over time. Thanks.” He rubbed the back of his neck. It was weird having someone else in his room other than Yamaguchi. “If you want I can go get some stuff to patch you up.”

“That would be really nice, thank you.”

“I’ll be right back… then.” Tsukishima turned and hurried out of the room. Why did it feel so weird to have someone else in his room? What the hell? He managed to find some bandages, disinfectant, and a now wet rag in the bathroom. “Here. We have to get you out of that jacket if you want me to patch you up.” 

Tsukishima set the supplies on the middle of the bed before sitting next to Hinata and leaning over to unzip his jacket. He had been so focused on finding something good to patch Hinata with he hadn’t heard the noise on the stairs. The zipper was halfway down when his door flung open. 

“Kei? Why didn’t you come to the-” Akiteru started to ask, before stopping dead once seeing them on the bed. 

Tsukishima. And another boy. Sitting on a bed. In a situation where it looked like Tsukishima was taking off his clothes. 

I’m ready for death, Tsukishima thought grimly as he watched his brother quickly blush. 

“S-sorry for interrupting!” Akiteru shouted before slamming the door. His footsteps down the stairs could be heard in the silence of the room.

Hinata turned bright red. “Um Tsukishima, who was that?”

“My older brother.” Tsukishima whispered, refusing to look anywhere near Hinata. He still hadn’t let go of the jacket though. “I was hoping to avoid… this.”

“You have a brother? Since when?”

“Since… always? My whole life.” Tsukishima frowned. “He went to Karasuno a few years ago too. I think around the same time as Tanaka’s sister.”

“Wait...wasn’t the Small Giant there around that time? Did you brother know him!? Can I talk to him!? Why didn’t you tell me before!?”

Tsukishima groaned and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t talk about his time at Karasuno with him much. He was on the… nevermind. I don’t know if he knew the Small Giant or not and I didn’t tell you because I don’t like talking about him.”

“Oh...sorry.”

“It… It’s fine. Whatever.” Tsukishima unzipped the rest of the jacket in a harsh tug. “Let’s just get you bandaged up.” He helped Hinata get out of the sleeves before grabbing the disinfectant. “This’ll hurt,” he warned before starting to treat the various scratches and marks.

Hinata hissed at the sting, gripping the sheets. “S-sorry, keep going.”

Tsukishima nodded, trying to ignore Hinata’s hissing. It’d all be worth it when it stopped hurting, Tsukishima told himself as he continued to treat Hinata’s torso. “Are there scratches on your legs too?”

Hinata nodded. “He was really mad today…”

Tsukishima clenched his fist for a moment, letting his anger seep out before continuing. “Any reason? Or was he just being a bigger asshole than usual?” 

“...He was just upset about some stuff…”

“Hm. Are you going to tell me what kind of stuff? Or am I just going to be left guessing again?” 

“I want to tell you, I really do, but you are just going to be upset.”

“Wouldn’t it be more upsetting to not know what’s going on?” Tsukishima countered, raising an eyebrow. “I already know the basis of what he’s doing. Don’t you think it’s pretty… upsetting to have to carry you home because he hurt you so much and not know why?”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. He was kind of um, jealous and angry that I-I was hanging out with you…”

At those words Tsukishima froze and slowly pulled away from Hinata. He stared down at his sheets on his bed, face blank. “Oh. Of course. Great.” So this time, it was technically Tsukishima’s own fault.

“Tsukishima, I don’t care that he got really mad about that. I appreciate your help and you being here for me, so I don’t care if it makes him treat me worse. I rather have you being here for me and him being more violent, than you not being here for me and him acting the same as usual.”

Tsukishima eyes widened and his gaze went back to Hinata. “Are you even listening to yourself? Here I am trying to help and all I’m doing is making things worse.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, frustratedly tugging on the ends. 

“You aren't making it worse. So what if he got mad because I was hanging with you? He was going to get mad at me for some dumb reason eventually. I’m really grateful for all you have done for me, Kei.” 

He had heard of people’s brains “short circuiting”. How with one event any thoughts a person could possibly had would stop and they’d struggle to get their mind back on track again. Tsukishima personally hadn’t thought it possible, at least for him, as it made no sense to just stop being able to think. He’d thought that up until this point. 

When Hinata called him by his first name his thoughts of anger (mostly at himself) halted as he realized how Hinata addressed him. No one other than his family called him by that, not even Yamaguchi. A bright pink blush arose to his face and he stared at Hinata. 

“I… Um… Okay.” He managed to get out.

Hinata gave him a soft smile. “Do you have a futon, so I have a place to sleep later?” 

“Yes!” Tsukishima stood up, back slightly stiff. “I’ll, um, go get it.” He stared down at the ground as he walked over to his closet and pulled a futon out. “Do you want some fresh clothes to sleep in?”

“That would be great, they might be a little bit big on me though. I guess that's better than too small though.”

“Yeah.” Tsukishima muttered, digging through his drawers. He held up a hoodie and an old pair of pajama pants that no longer fit him, but could possibly fit Hinata. “Are these okay?”

“Those should work fine! But um, do you think you could help me get the hoodie on? My arms are still pretty sore…” Hinata asked, blushing a bit.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” Tsukishima nodded and brought the clothes over. He held up the hoodie. “Um, how do you want to do this? One arm at a time or something?”

Hinata shrugged. “Whatever seems easier and looks the least painful I guess.” 

“Guess we’ll see then, huh?” Tsukishima leaned forward and helped Hinata raise his right arm before sliding the sleeve of the hoodie over it. “Is that okay?”

“I mean it doesn't feel wonderful, but it's not too bad. You can do the other arm.” 

Tsukishima nodded before doing the same thing with Hinata’s left arm. He tugged the hoodie’s collar past Hinata’s neck and took a step back. “There we go. Can you handle the pants by yourself?”

Hinata nodded, before taking the pajama pants and slowly sliding them on. “Perfect!” 

The pajamas may have been small on Tsukishima, but they were not small on Hinata. The sleeves were far too long and it looked more like a dress then a sweatshirt. 

Tsukishima snorted a laugh, looking Hinata up and down. “You’re so… That looks like a dress. Oh my god. I can’t even believe those old pants fit you.”

“Shut up, you're just freakishly tall.” Hinata pouted. 

He snickered. “Don’t be bitter just because you’re short.” He reached over and lightly ruffled Hinata’s hair. “Maybe if you keep growing you’ll get to be how tall I was right before junior high.”

“At least my shortness makes me a great decoy and cuter. You're just a skinny tree with glasses.” Hinata stuck his tongue out at him. 

“A skinny tree with glasses, who can block better than you. And gets confessed to. How’s your love life going with your cuteness, Hinata?” Tsukishima grinned down at him.

“I don't care about stupid confessions. I don't want to date some random girl, who confesses to me. I want to date someone I actually like. And hey! I’m a great blocker, thank you very much.”

“Sure you are, Hinata. Tell that to the balls Tanaka spikes past you.” He rolled his eyes and sat back down on his bed. “You hungry? I could go grab us some dinner.”

“I’m starving! I haven't eaten since this morning. I had to skip lunch to practice volleyball, since I won't be able to go to practice as much. I don't want to get behind!” 

“Idiot.” Tsukishima glared and flicked Hinata’s forehead. “You’re just going to overwork yourself, aren’t you? Be careful or else I’ll be stuck with carrying you everywhere, which would be way too irritating.” He headed for the door. 

“Yes mom, I’ll be careful,” Hinata teased.

Tsukishima shot him a glare before leaving the room and hurrying downstairs. There was some leftover curry in the kitchen, but so was his brother. They made eye contact once before Akiteru blushed bright red and looked away. Wonderful. Another thing to deal with. He grabbed two plates of curry before hurrying upstairs. 

“Here.” Tsukishima offered a plate to Hinata once he was in the room. “It’s still warm.”

“Thank you,” Hinata said, before starting to dig in. He didn’t realize how hungry he was, until he started eating. The curry was gone in minutes and Hinata was full and happy. “That was so good! Did your mom make it?”

“My brother Akiteru probably made it, my mom hasn’t been around recently. He’s a decent cook.” Tsukishima shrugged. “Oh, and my brother probably thinks we’re fucking,” he said before shoving his last bite of curry in his mouth.

Hinata choked on his own spit. “W-what!?” 

“Well he did walk in on me taking off your clothes. He wouldn’t look me in the eye downstairs and I don’t think I’ve seen him blush like that since we caught my mom with one of her boyfriends.” Tsukishima shrugged. “I’m just letting you know in case he can’t look you in the eye either.”

“I guess that means I can’t ask him questions about the Small Giant?”

“Feel free.” Tsukishima shrugged and held his hand out for Hinata’s empty plate. “He’ll probably still answer you, he’s a sucker for volleyball, but I can’t guarantee he won’t look at you weird. He’ll get over it. He used to think the same thing about me and Yamaguchi to be honest.”

“He likes volleyball too!? Is that why you started playing?”

Tsukishima frowned. “... Yeah.” His voice was sharper than he meant it. “He used to play. A bit. And he showed me some stuff.”

Hinata noticed there was something off about Tsukishima when he was talking about this. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”

“Whatever. I’ll take the plates downstairs,” he said in a rush. He grabbed Hinata’s plates and hurried out the door. Downstairs his brother was gone and Tsukishima felt himself relax. He knew he was acting weird, but he didn’t exactly want to discuss his brother and his connection to volleyball with volleyball-fanatic Hinata. 

He slowly walked back up the stairs and into his room, not saying anything as he did so. He walked over to his desk and grabbed his laptop. Silently he brought it over to the bed, opening it. 

Hinata scooted in closer to look at what Tsukishima was doing, resting his chin on Tsukishima’s shoulder. 

“Want to listen to some music?” Tsukishima asked, clicking around on his computer, voice slightly strained. He didn’t tense up when Hinata got close to him like last time, but he still looked over at him.h

“Sure! What kind of music do you have?” Hinata asked, grinning.

Tsukishima shrugged. “Various kinds.” He muttered and pressed shuffle, turning the volume up before leaning his head back as the music began. “Helps me think… What kind of music do you listen to?”

“I like a lot of different kinds of music. My favorites change, depending on what kind of mood I’m in. I don’t think I could ever pick one song that is my absolute favorite. There are so many different genres, it would be impossible for me to choose just one.”

“Hmm,” Tsukishima hummed and closed his eyes. His whole body and expression slowly started to relax as the song went on. “I don’t understand you, Hinata.” He spoke honestly, in a soft whisper.

“How so?” Hinata whispered back.

“I just… don’t. I don’t understand why you’re okay with being around me. Or why you obsess over volleyball. Or how you make friends so goddamn fast. How you’re dealing with any of this. How you’re making me care about you so fast.” He shrugged, not bothering to open his eyes. It was easier to talk like that.

“Well, I’m okay being around you because you are my friend and I enjoy hanging out with you. I obsess over volleyball because it is my favorite thing and it makes me happy. I make friends fast because I’m nice to people right away and I guess that works. I’m dealing with this because you are here helping me. I don’t know the answer to the last one, but I’m happy about it because I care about you too.”

Tsukishima opened his eyes and tilted his head to glance down at Hinata, expression neutral. “I still don’t get how your head works. Something just doesn’t click. We’re probably just too different,” he admitted. “How long have we been friends?”

“I mean, I’ve always considered us sort of friends since we play on the same team. I now consider us a lot closer because of all that has happened. I like how I’ve gotten to know you better recently, it’s nice. You are a really cool person, Tsukishima.”

The tips of Tsukishima’s ears turned pink. Always considered friends, huh? Hinata sure did think in a strange way, Tsukishima had a hard enough time thinking of Hinata as a teammate. “So I’ve heard… It’s been interesting getting to know you too.” He admitted in a whisper. 

Hinata laid his head down on Tsukishima’s chest. “I hope interesting is a good thing.”

Tsukishima tensed and his eyes widened. No matter how relaxed the music usually made him, it wasn’t helping slow his heartbeat now. “I- I suppose so.” His voice was still soft as he looked down at Hinata. Too close, his head warned. 

Hinata smiled and closed his eyes. “What band is this? I really love this song.”

What the hell? Am I feeling?? Tsukishima’s thoughts went blank. His hands gripped the blankets on the bed. “Um,” he pulled his gaze away from the red head to glance at his computer and then back, “The Wombats. I could look for more of their music… if you want.”

“That would be awesome!” 

Tsukishima typed in the band's name in the search box and pulled up several different songs. He clicked one and looked back at Hinata. “There you go.” Why are you being so nice? Extra nice?

“I really enjoy spending time with you, I don’t get why everyone thinks you are this mean, not fun person. You are actually a really awesome person!”

“I am a mean person.” Tsukishima huffed, blushing harder. “People aren’t wrong. I just act weird around you.”

“Does Yamaguchi think that you are a mean person?”

“Maybe. Though, I don’t think he’d admit it if he did. He kind of pressured me into being friends when we were younger. All I did was tell some pathetic bullies to piss off and he wouldn’t leave me alone. Doesn’t make me a nice person.”

“You know what I think? I think that you are nice to people you let get close to you and since you don’t let people in, they automatically think you are mean.”

“Nice to know you’ve taken up the role of my psychologist.” Tsukishima deadpanned. “Any other observations on the inner workings of my mind?” 

“Hmm...I’ll get back to you on that.”

“You’re a pretty awful psychologist. I can’t see why anyone would want to hire you.”

“Do you want me to smear ink onto some paper and ask you what you see?” Hinata asked, chuckling.

“I don’t think it’d matter, I’d still see the same thing; you being stupid,” he teased. He nudged Hinata, a small, hardly there grin on his face.

“As your psychologist, you should be treating me with more respect,” Hinata joked.

“Maybe I would if you did your job well. Until then I don’t think you’ll be getting any more respect any time soon.” 

Hinata laughed, before nuzzling his head into Tsukishima’s chest. “For someone as skinny as you, you are pretty comfortable.”

In an attempt not to nuzzle into Hinata’s hair (which he almost did), Tsukishima tilted his head back and away from Hinata. “Shut up. I’m not going to be your pillow for the rest of the night.” 

“You should consider it for a living though. You would make a great pillow, people would pay good money for it.”

“It’s too bad that I don’t like being touched by strangers.” Tsukishima shrugged. “I don’t know, if you paid me then maybe.” 

“It’s too late for me to pay you, I’m already using you as a pillow,” Hinata told him, smiling.

“Too bad. You gotta find a way to pay or start up a debt.” Tsukishima joked. “I don’t do this kind of work for free, who do you take me for?”

“Too bad for you, I don’t have any money. Ooo, maybe you can become the stereotypical bully and ask for my lunch money instead?” Hinata chuckled.

“How does a stereotypical bully sound?” Tsukishima wondered. He deepened his voice, “give me all your lunch money, shrimp! There, how was that?”

Hinata burst out laughing. “That was fantastic, oh my god.”

He laughed along with Hinata. “Nah, I don’t think I could continually talk like that to you. I’ll let this time slide, one free trial run. If you want me to be a pillow again, though, you better come prepared.” 

“Sounds like a plan, Tsukishima,” Hinata responded, cuddling closer.

Tsukishima’s face was still slightly pink at the closeness (he hadn’t cuddled anyone since before junior high), but he was much more relaxed than before. “Hey do you mind if I lie back on the bed?”

“Sure, fine with me!”

Tsukishima moved his laptop off his lap onto the bed next to him before lowering himself back onto the bed. He closed his eyes once more as he let himself sink into the mattress and felt Hinata settle on top of him. 

Hinata wrapped his arms around Tsukishima, happily. 

He sucked in a breath when Hinata hugged him and made himself relax when he let the breath go. Is this how Hinata usual acts? He found himself wondering as he tentatively wrapped an arm around him. It was almost peaceful, lying together with music playing in the background. Yet there was still something bugging him in the back of his mind. 

“You called me by my first name earlier.” Tsukishima remembered, staring at one of the posters on his wall. “Why?”

“Well because I was being sincere when thanking you and I don’t know, it felt right in the moment. Did it bother you or something?”

“No. It’s just that you’re the first person outside my family to do it.” He admitted, keeping his eyes on the wall. “I was just wondering. Do you do that sort of thing a lot?”

“I guess not really...again it just felt right in the moment.”

Tsukishima just hummed in response and let his thoughts drift along to the music. Now that he had a proper chance to relax his body found that carrying Hinata all the way home was a pretty tiring event. As the song went on he found himself drifting more and more until he was practically asleep. As he fell asleep he wrapped his other arm around Hinata, tugging him close like his own pillow.

Hinata started getting tired as well, being lulled to sleep by Tsukishima’s heartbeat.


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight pierced through Tsukishima’s window and he groaned at the rude awakening. He pulled his pillow closer to him, hoping to get in a few more minutes of sleep before his alarm went off. His very warm, hard pillow. Confused, Tsukishima opened his eyes and glanced down, eyes widening at seeing Hinata asleep, clinging to him. 

Oh right. Last night, we must have dozed off together… He remembered before blushing again. Ah, yes. Last night. 

He sighed and unwrapped his arms to shake Hinata. “Oi. Hinata. Get up.”

“Mhmm...five more minutes…”

“Come on, Hinata.” Tsukishima yawned, starting to sit up. “Aren’t you supposed to be the morning person? You have to get up before we both fall back asleep.” 

“You are all warm and comfortable thoughhh.”

“Shut up! Do you want to miss morning practice?” Tsukishima gave him another shake, but with each second Hinata was refusing to give up was another second closer to Tsukishima giving up and spending the morning in bed.

“Oh shit, practice!” Hinata tried to jump up, but was still really sore and ended up bending over in pain.

Tsukishima sat up and reached out to gently touch Hinata’s shoulder. “Okay, never mind. Maybe we should stay home. You can’t jump off a bed without getting hurt, how are you going to make it through practice?” He tugged on Hinata’s sleeve, guiding him back to the bed. 

“But practice…” Hinata said, sadly. “You’re probably right though…”

“If you go to practice hurt they’ll start asking questions.” Tsukishima pointed out. “I can call in sick for the day.” 

“Can we keep cuddling in bed at least?” Hinata asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

Tsukishima flushed, just how direct was this guy? He looked away for a second and when he looked back Hinata was still looking at him with those large puppy dog eyes. “Fine!” He nodded and scooted back on the bed, lying down where he was before. “Yes, just stop looking at me like that.”

Hinata giggled and went to cuddle up against Tsukishima again, sighing contently.

“You’re awful.” Tsukishima muttered, closing his eyes, pouting only slightly. He wrapped his arms around Hinata once more, figuring they were so far gone there was no point in being embarrassed anymore. “I bet you use that look on everyone who you want something from.”

“As you just proved, it works. The only people it doesn’t work on are my mom and my sister, but that’s two people out of the entire world. If it helps though, I don’t use it on people to get them to cuddle with me. So, that makes you special I guess.”

Tsukishima yawned. “Nice to know I’m special. Have you been saving it up to use on someone for cuddling?”

“Possibly, it’s been forever since I cuddled with someone. My sister thinks she’s even too old for it now.”

“Really? She seemed so young. Happens to every younger sibling, I guess.” He muttered. Talking with Hinata was the only thing keeping him awake at this point. “She looks a lot like you. Do you get along well?”

“We get along pretty well. I mean, all siblings argue at times, but we are pretty close. She loves watching me practice volleyball, but sadly she likes setting more. Stupid Kageyama, showing her how to set…”

Tsukishima softly chuckled. “It’s good you get along. You should be happy she likes setting more, what if she turned out to be better at spiking than you?”

“...That is a really good point…”

He pulled Hinata closer, sucking up the heat the boy gave off. “I’m full of good points. All the time. About everything,” he mumbled. 

“Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that,” Hinata replied, giggling.

“What, are you saying I’m not?” Tsukishima asked in mock offense. “You’re only laughing because you wish you could do the same.”

Hinata stuck his tongue out in response. 

“That means I’m right.” Tsukishima said, smugly. 

A knock sounded out against Tsukishima’s door followed by Akiteru’s voice. “Kei?” He called, knocking again. “Are you awake? Won’t you be late for school?”

“Oh yeah, he’s here,” Tsukishima whispered. He sat up slightly and raised his voice to be heard. “I’m not going today. I think I’m pretty sick.”

The door pushed open and Akiteru peeked in, eyeing Tsukishima with disbelief. “Pretty sick of school?”

“Isn’t everyone?” 

“And your friend… Are you sick too?” Akiteru asked, finally looking at Hinata.

“Yes?” Hinata replied.

“... Don’t tell mom that I Iet you stay home. She’ll get pissed.” Akiteru sighed, giving in. “And, um, who are you? I don’t think I got your name last night.”

“Oh, I’m Hinata Shouyou! I play volleyball with your brother, I’m also a middle blocker.” Hinata grinned widely. “Tsukishima said that you like volleyball too! Didn't you get to Karasuno when the Small Giant was there!? Did you ever meet him?! Isn't he amazing!” 

A smile spread across Akiteru’s face and Tsukishima inwardly groaned. “Hinata Shouyou? I think I’ve heard a bit about you. I’ve also seen you play, it’s pretty impressive. Ah, yeah, I knew the Small Giant. I didn’t know him well, though.”

“What was he like!? Did you talk to him!? Was he always super awesome at volleyball or did he have to learn a lot!?”

“You just want him to tell you that you can be the next Small Giant.” Tsukishima muttered. 

“We didn’t talk much,” Akiteru shook his head and leaned against the doorframe. “He wasn’t that good first year and it wasn’t until second that he seriously improved, but he was always really intense about it. Kei was right, you are a big fan, aren’t you, Hinata?”

“He’s the reason why I started playing volleyball. I saw him play on tv one time and it was incredible! My goal in life is to be just as good as him! That’s why I chose to go to Karasuno actually.”

“Really? I hope you achieve that goal, Hinata. Anyway, I have to go to the store to pick up some things. I won’t be gone long, but don’t drink all the coffee again, Kei.” Akiteru’s smile that had been directed at Hinata turned into an almost scolding frown at Tsukishima. 

“Just buy more coffee if you want some.” Tsukishima shrugged.

“You’re the type to drink it black, aren’t you?” Hinata asked Tsukishima. 

“Black and bitter.” Tsukishima nodded.

Akiteru sighed. “Like some freak of nature. I’ve never seen him take sugar or milk, it just isn’t natural. See you guys later.” He gave a little wave before closing the door.

Hinata looked up at Tsukishima. “I don’t think the cuddling helped the fact of him thinking that we had sex.”

“Nope,” Tsukishima glanced down at Hinata. “He’s had a whole night to think about it, I’m pretty sure he’s accepted what he believes happened. But, hey, he didn’t kick you out. That must be a good sign.”

“I guess he approves of me,” Hinata said, shrugging.

“I guess.” Tsukishima agreed. “Or he’s too scared to disapprove. This is the first time I’ve brought someone home that I haven’t known since grade school. That must freak him out in its own right.” 

“I like the idea of him just thinking that I’m really awesome and wonderful so he improves, a lot better than him being scared.”

“Whatever. It’s not like it matters that much; we aren’t having sex, so who really cares? He likes you, that’s all that matters.” He shrugged.

“Have you ever had sex before, Tsukishima?” Hinata asked, curiously.

Tsukishima’s eyes widened, cheeks turning a warm red very quickly. “What the hell? No- no, I’ve never had sex before. Why would you think I have?”

“I don’t know, you are all tall and handsome and stuff. Plus, you get a lot of confessions.”

“Oh, so you think I’m handsome?” He raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips.

“So what? A lot of people think you’re handsome,” Hinata replied, trying to hide his blush by burying his face into Tsukishima’s chest.

“Ah, now I get why you wanted to cuddle.” Tsukishima teased, peeking down to see Hinata blushing. “Careful, your face might get as red as your hair.”

“I wanted to cuddle with you because cuddling is nice and you’re comfortable and warm. You being good looking is just...a bonus.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, Hinata.” Tsukishima grinned. “You keep pretending it’s only a bonus.”

“Well, what’s your reason? Why are you letting me cuddle you then?”

“Cause you’re warm and you’re the one that started it.” Tsukishima shrugged. And I’ve forgotten how nice cuddling can be, he added in his thoughts.

Hinata sighed contently, nuzzling into the crook of Tsukishima’s neck. 

Tsukishima sighed before tilting his head down and burying his face in Hinata’s hair, giving in completely to Hinata’s cuddles. His face felt warm with embarrassment. When was the last time he had cuddled? Early grade school? He held in a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

It was not a good day. Not a good day at all. While yesterday had ended wonderfully, today started off horrible and was promised to end the same way. The worst thing, Haizaki was forced to accept, was that he’d have to go through the day with a friendly smile and cheerful attitude. But how was he to do that when Shouyou wasn’t here?

“Sick”. Sick the students had guessed when Haizaki asked where Shouyou was. A lie they didn’t realize they were telling. Was Shouyou really this desperate? Skipping school?

It was beyond frustrating. He’d have to teach Shouyou a lesson when he came back. A harsh lesson, one with the message of discipline. Much like the day before. 

During lunch Haizaki had realized something awful as he looked over meaningless assignments. That boy that was with Shouyou. The tall, blond one, who had looked at Haizaki like being in the same presence had personally insulted him. Shouyou couldn’t be with him, could he? Shouyou had said they were only friend, but children often lied… 

Fury filled him for the rest of the day. He had to try to remain calm for the rest of the day, yet he still snapped at students and seemed to get annoyed much quicker than usual. When the final bell rang Haizaki was just as anxious to leave as his students. He sat, though, and waited for all his students to leave before heading down to the office. He knew that there was something down there that would confirm if Shouyou was staying with his friend; a complete list of all students marked sick for the day. 

The office was completely empty, whoever that was supposed to be watching over everything clearly off somewhere else. Haizaki glanced around before hurrying behind the desk, digging through recent paperwork before finding the document. 

What was it Shouyou had called his friend? Something with a t? He glanced through the list, examining every last name that began with t. Sato...Tachibana…Tsukishima. Tsukishima? That sounded familiar. 

“Tsukishima Kei. Year 1, Class 4.” The name tasted bitter on his tongue. “Oh, Shouyou, Shouyou, Shouyou. You’re such a naive little boy.” He shook his head and slid the paper back into the pile. 

Maybe he should pay Tsukishima a visit, teach him what happens when you touch what already belongs to someone else. 

The next day Hinata and Tsukishima went back to school. Hinata was thankfully able to get through morning practice after the day of resting. He made his way to class, avoiding eye contact with Haizaki like he always does. It seemed like the day was going as usual. 

Haizaki had smiled at Hinata when he walked in, welcoming him back and hoping that he felt better after a day of rest. It wouldn’t do much good to spread a cold around school.

Nothing much happened during the first half of the day. No glances towards Hinata, no indication he was mad at all. In fact, Haizaki almost seemed cheerful, a drastic change in his attitude from the day before. When lunch came, though, Haizaki had gotten up from his desk and walked down the aisle to Hinata’s desk. 

“Ah, Hinata.” He greeted once more. “I just wanted to let you know that since you recently got sick there’s no need for you to come to an afternoon session. Go home and rest, alright?” He smiled and gently patted Hinata’s shoulder. “Oh, and tell your friend Tsukishima that I hope he has recovered from his cold as well.”

Hinata’s eyes widened. How did he know Tsukishima was out!? Did he look it up? Shit, this isn't good. “T-thank you, I’ll rest up n-now,” Hinata told him, before bolting out of the classroom. I have to find Tsukishima. I have to find Tsukishima. Shit. 

Haizaki watched Hinata bolt out of the classroom and sighed, trying to contain his large smile. “What an odd student.” He commented to a nearby student. “Very nice, though.” 

Tsukishima, meanwhile, was trying to actually enjoy any part of eating lunch with Yamaguchi without worrying about Hinata. For not caring about Hinata just a few days ago, recently he was all he could think about. Usually those thoughts consisted of worry, but they hadn’t yesterday. He prefered his thoughts from yesterday. 

Hinata searched around the school, trying to find Tsukishima. He looked all over, before he finally saw him eating with Yamaguchi. “Tsukishima! I need to talk to you right now, it's urgent.”

Tsukishima looked up mid-bite and frowned. He glanced over at Yamaguchi, who was looking between them with a quite confused expression, and then back at Hinata. “Um- fine. It better not be something stupid again,” he glared, tone harsh. “I’ll be right back, Yamaguchi.” 

“Okay, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi watched them walk off, an almost uneasy expression on his face. 

They hurried away from Yamaguchi and once they were out of earshot Tsukishima let himself look concerned. “What’s wrong, Hinata?”

Hinata burst into tears. “I-I was talking to Haizaki Sensei and he knows t-that you were out yesterday too. I-I’m afraid that he w-wants to hurt you. I can't let that happen, I can’t. I rather have h-him hurt me multiple times a day. I w-would rather pass out again. He can’t hurt you, he can’t. Please avoid him, Tsukishima. P-please…”

“Whoa, whoa, Hinata.” Tsukishima spoke softly and lightly grabbed his shoulders. “He knows I was out too? That- That doesn’t mean he’s going to hurt me. He could just be trying to scare you, but if you think he’s going to hurt me I can do my best to avoid him. But don’t just give yourself up for me. Don’t say that kind of stuff… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s sort of too late for me on the ‘don't get hurt train.’ Just...please try your best to avoid him. Can you promise me that?” 

“I mean more than you already have been, idiot.” He hissed and clenched his fists. “I- I promise I’ll try to avoid him, alright?”

“Thank you,” Hinata whispered. 

Tsukishima looked away and crossed his arms. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You have to promise me something too. Don’t let him hurt you even more just because you’re scared he’ll come after me. You have to promise me you won’t do that, Shouyou.” 

Hinata’s face reddened at the use of his first name. “Ok, I promise.” 

Shortly after that exchange, the bell rang. “I'll see you at practice ok?” Hinata quickly kissed Tsukishima on the cheek and headed off to class. 

His face erupted in a red blush at the kiss. “Um- yeah…” Tsukishima muttered, watching Hinata run off. He reached up and brushed the tips of his fingers against the spot Hinata kissed. What the hell was that?!

He turned around, walked back to Yamaguchi, and refused to answer any questions on why he was blushing.


	7. Chapter 7

A week flew by in a blur. A week that seemed almost normal, one without Haizaki asking to see Hinata after class, but with Tsukishima slowly distancing himself. After a simple kiss he seemed to become more nervous around Hinata, but he’d still constantly ask if Hinata was doing okay, if anything was happening. 

But nothing was. 

The boys were almost excited for the practice match coming up. Another evening practice match with the neighborhood association, who themselves were excited to play Karasuno after they’ve grown, was scheduled for the day after school. Luckily Haizaki hadn’t brought up Hinata staying after class all day. 

Hinata entered the gym, having his almost daily random debate with Kageyama. “Kageyama, I’m telling you that there is no way a penguin could ever fly. I don't care how much speed it gets or if it wears fake wings over his real ones, there is no way it would work.”

“Hinata, they have wings. If they go fast enough, they should be able to get at least a little bit off the air. I’m not talking about penguins flying through the sky, I'm talking about them flying maybe a foot above the ground. I’m not that stupid, dumbass.”

“Kageyama, Hinata! Stop arguing and start warming up,” Daichi yelled, rolling his eyes at their dumb argument.

“Yes, Captain,” Hinata and Kageyama said in unison, before running to grab a ball. 

Tsukishima stood at the other end of the gym, forced to stand between a small argument between Noya and Tanaka. He glanced up at Hinata, watching the way he ran across the court with no problem, before turning his attention away. Good, everything seemed fine. He relaxed slightly. 

“Look, bro, all I’m saying is there’s no way you’ll be able to get her number.” Noya shook his head, patting Tanaka’s arm with a sorrowful expression. 

“Rude! At least I have more of a chance than you!” Tanaka puffed his chest out, grinning madly. 

“What’s the point in arguing when neither of you have a chance?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow before walking off with a volleyball in hands. He walked away from the sounds of Yamaguchi snickering and Tanaka and Noya squawking in protest. 

Suddenly he stopped with a frown and stared at the ground. An odd feeling creeped up his spine. What was it? Like someone was trying to stare directly through him. He looked up and his gaze darted around, trying to figure out if someone was staring at him. 

Tsukishima didn’t notice the figure darting out of view behind a window.

The other team was running a bit late, so they all had some extra time to kill. Of course, Hinata and Kageyama used that time to keep practicing, while Tanaka and Nishinoya planned out how they would interact with Kiyoko next. 

Yamaguchi had convinced Tsukishima to practice just a bit, he was clearly nervous about his float serves, but as a result Tsukishima found he had forgotten his water bottle in the club room. Luckily he was sure he still had time to kill so he had no rush. 

“I’ll be right back.” He said to Yamaguchi before walking out of the gym and towards the club room. He shivered when he walked outside, the air was getting colder as the year moved forward. Too bad he didn’t have his jacket with him. 

He shivered, but if it was from the chilly air of the uneasy feeling he had out in the open he couldn’t tell. Hopefully the chilly air was the cause. He really didn’t want to have to deal with himself becoming paranoid.

He rounded a corner to the club room and almost walked straight into a figure. He stumbled back a step in surprise, ready to either apologize to a teacher or sneer at a fellow student, but when he looked up he froze. He’d know that sickeningly friendly expression anywhere by now. 

“Tsukishima Kei, I presume?” Haizaki asked with a friendly smile. He was dressed down compared to the last time Tsukishima saw him, only wearing his button up shirt and dress pants. 

“Yes, sir. Excuse me.” Tsukishima automatically answered, tone and body stiff. He turned to leave, to run off and forget this exchange every happened and never to mention it to Hinata ever, when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. He held back a shudder. 

“Oh, no need to excuse yourself. I was actually looking for you.” Haizaki’s friendly face never flattered, but his tone shifted. A darker, grave tone that had all of Tsukishima’s body tense up. “I believe we have a mutual acquaintance.” 

Tsukishima quickly nodded and tried to lightly pull his wrist away, but Haizaki stayed firm in his grip. “Yes. Hinata.” 

“Ah, Shouyou.” Haizaki sighed and Tsukishima’s stomach turned at the look in his eyes, one that could easily be mistaken for love sick. Sick was right. “Sweet, lovely, Shouyou. I’ve known him for quite a while. I used to teach him back when he was only in grade school, we were quite close.” 

“Oh, I know just how close you were.” Tsukishima hissed, unable to hold back the spike of rage that bubbled up. 

Haizaki’s eyes widened a fraction. “So he did tell you.” 

“No,” he easily lied. “It doesn’t take an idiot to spot someone like you.” 

“Well, it seems quite idiotic to announce it.” Haizaki frowned, as if Tsukishima was a student in class who just answered a question wrong. “It’s not like you can judge me for putting my hands on him, though,” his grip on Tsukishima’s wrist tightened. “Not when you’ve done the same.”

“What the hell are you talking about-?” 

Tsukishima never got to fully finish his question as Haizaki shot forward and with his free hand wrapped his fingers around Tsukishima’s neck. The boy froze as he felt Haizaki’s grip constrict slightly, fingernails digging into his skin. 

“Don’t lie to me. Shouyou has already lied enough, I don’t know how much more I can take.” He let out a lighthearted chuckle. Tsukishima tried to pull away, thrashing against his hold. “I know that there’s something going on between you. Such a coincidence that you both came down sick the same day. And such a coincidence I’ve seen you two together quite a lot the past few weeks. And that stunt you pulled taking him away from me. What do you take yourself for?” His grip tightened, Tsukishima let out a cough as his airway closed up. “Shouyou’s prince charming?” 

“Ha!” Another laugh, a darker one that matched the growing unease in Haizaki’s eyes. “You can’t take Shouyou from me. I know how delectable he can be, how irresistible, but that doesn’t give you a right to steal him. To take him away just to fuck him.” 

“Bastard.” Tsukishima choked out, trying to pull Haizaki’s hand off his throat. 

It seemed to work for half a second. The pressure was gone and Tsukishima sucked in a breath and then a stinging pain hit him and he was on the ground. He fell back, landing on his hands, and an awful stinging sensation rose up on his cheek. Had Haizaki just slapped him? 

From the wild look in his eyes, Tsukishima would have to guess yes. 

“Don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you, Tsukishima. This is me when I’m nice. And you don’t want me to be mean to Shouyou, do you?” He grinned. A grin that was meant to suck up any hope left in Tsukishima and replace it all with the reality of despair. “Because I’ve only started to break him. Wouldn’t be a shame to know you were the one to cause him extra pain?” 

Tsukishima saw red. 

He couldn’t really remember too much about it after the fact. Suddenly he was standing and his fist was pulled back. The next thing he knew Haizaki had replaced his spot on the floor and Tsukishima’s knuckles stung as bad as his face did. Haizaki looked up at him, eyes wide with disbelief, and Tsukishima stared back down. Before any other move could be made Tsukishima spun around and sprinted away.

In the time Tsukishima was gone the neighborhood association had arrived. There was time to set up and split into teams, they were just about ready to play, but there was no sign of Tsukishima returning. 

Hinata looked around the gym, worriedly. Where was Tsukishima? Why wasn’t he here? Wasn’t he just here a few minute ago? All the worse possible scenarios popped into Hinata’s head. “Daichi-san, where is Tsukishima?” Hinata asked, hoping he was just going to grab water or something.

Daichi looked around, confused. “I actually have no idea. Yamaguchi, do you know where Tsukishima is?”

“He went outside last time I checked,” Yamaguchi responded. 

Hinata quickly raised his hand. “I’ll go find him! Because I um, want the game to start soon?” 

“Um, okay Hinata, go ahead,” Daichi responded.

Hinata ran out of the gym, looking for Tsukishima. 

He found Tsukishima by chance, huddled against a wall of the school building, curled up so his face was hidden away. He tensed when he heard Hinata approach and peeked up at him, cursing when he saw who it was. Just who he didn’t want to see this. 

“Hey, Hinata.” He called, but kept his head down. 

“Tsukishima?” Hinata approached him. He looked down and noticed that his knuckles were bleeding. “W-what happened!?” He crouched down beside Tsukishima with a worried expression on his face. 

With a sigh and the sad recognition he’d have to face Hinata sooner or later, Tsukishima raised his head. The reddening mark on his face and darkening bruises on his neck were apparent, even in the low light. “What happened? I finally met your asshole teacher face to face,” he muttered, looking away. He couldn’t stand to meet Hinata’s brown eyes. 

Hinata’s eyes teared up. “T-this is my fault...I caused t-this…”

“Oh my god,” Tsukishima groaned and leaned his head back. He sighed and reached over to gently hold Hinata’s face, brushing away stray tears with his thumbs. “I knew you’d say that. This isn’t your fault. Are you the one that hit me? Are you the one that’s been harassing students? Are you the sick creep I just punched a few minutes ago? No? Then it’s not your fault, it’s his fault. He’s the one doing this, Hinata, not you.” 

Tsukishima’s shoulders sagged and he ran his thumb along Hinata’s cheek. “I’m fine, Hinata. This is nothing, really.”

Hinata sighed and rested his forehead against Tsukishima’s. “I’m sorry that I dragged you into all of this…”

“Shut up. I came along for the ride, didn’t I?” Tsukishima retorted and closed his eyes. “So stop apologizing, Shouyou. It’s annoying hearing you apologize for no reason.” 

“You know, everyone is going to freak out when they see your neck and face right?”

Tsukishima groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I know… I’m going to tell Ukai that Haizaki Sensei attacked me.” He admitted in a quiet voice, as if he hoped Hinata wouldn’t hear. 

Hinata’s eyes widened and he suddenly jerked away. “W-what!? You- you said you wouldn’t tell anyone about him!? Tsukishima, if you say anything he is going to get r-really angry like really angry. He already did this to you, w-what if he does worse!? He c-could- c-could…” Hinata burst into tears.

With a neutral expression, Tsukishima reached out and pulled Hinata down, hugging him against his chest. “That’s not going to happen,” he whispered as he let Hinata cry on him. He rubbed the smaller boy’s back, hoping to calm him down at least a little. “Hinata, I said I wouldn’t tell anyone about him hurting you. Not me. I’m not going to involve you in it, and he can’t do anything if the police come here and get him first.” He tilted his head down to bury in Hinata’s hair.

Hinata nodded into Tsukishima’s chest, holding onto him tightly. 

“It’ll be okay, Shouyou. Promise.” He whispered and pressed a light kiss to the top of Hinata’s head. He would wait until Hinata was calmer to head back to the gym, afraid that pushing him farther would only lead to another breakdown.

Hinata sat up a bit and kissed him on the cheek, some tears still rolling down his face. “Thank you Kei.”

Tsukishima’s turned a light pink at the kiss, still unsure when the hell they had decided on doing that, but nodded. He brushed away the stray tears on Hinata’s face before leaning down to return the favor, and kissing his cheek. “Don’t worry about it, Shouyou. Now,” he pulled away to get a better look at Hinata’s face, “do you think you can head back to the gym with me?”

“Y-you missed…” Hinata mumbled under his breath, nervously.

Tsukishima frowned, confusion evident in his expression. “What? I missed?”

“The k-kiss, you um missed.” Hinata was bright red by this point.

“What the hell are you- oh.” Tsukishima’s eyes widened slightly. Oh! His head yelled at him, realization dawning. “Well, I’m so sorry about that.” 

Tsukishima leaned up and gently pressed his lips against Hinata’s this time. He could feel his heart jump in his chest and he closed his eyes as he tilted his head for a better angel. It was warm and sent pleasant shivers down his spine, so he wrapped his arms around Hinata to hold him closer.

Hinata kissed back, moving his arms up to put around Tsukishima’s shoulders. All of his kisses in the past made him feel disgusted and dirty, but this one was sweet. This one gave him butterflies.

His first kiss. Not that he had been saving it, he just hadn’t found someone he found good enough to kiss yet. But here he was, sitting on the ground outside, kissing Hinata Shouyou. He was sure a month ago he would have laughed at the idea, but now the idea caused his heart to speed up. 

He pulled back, just for a second to catch his breath and get a good look at Hinata. He grinned at the dark red blush on Hinata’s cheeks even though he knew he himself was blushing, before leaning back in to kiss him again. He kissed a little harder this time, pressing himself as close to Hinata as possible. 

Hinata moved to sit in his lap, running his fingers gently through Tsukishima’s hair.

Tsukishima sighed at the touch, moving his arms to wrap around Hinata’s waist. He could keep doing this forever, he realized, just sitting here, kissing Hinata. The thought brought a blush back to his face. But they couldn’t. They had the practice match and- 

“Wait,” Tsukishima gasped and pulled away. He looked at Hinata, slightly dazed, and frowned. “We have to go back to the gym. Your teacher is still out here and if he came across us…” He trailed off and looked away. “We can- we can do this later.” 

Hinata nodded happily. “Does this mean that we are um, dating now? Because I really hope it means that…” He covered his face to hide his blush.

“Oi, you’re the one that wanted me to kiss you, you can’t just hide away like that after I do,” Tsukishima muttered, reaching up and pulling Hinata’s hands away from his face. “I suppose it means we’re dating now, if you’re sure you want to.”

Hinata threw his arms around Tsukishima. “I’m positive I want to.”

Tsukishima could feel the blush erupted on his face as Hinata hugged him, he hesitantly hugged back. “No need to get so excited,” he mumbled and tilted his head down to hide his own large smile. He hugged Hinata closer, actions betraying his words. 

“Let’s go to the practice match, before everyone starts worrying.” Hinata stood up and offered a hand to Tsukishima.

Tsukishima took Hinata’s hand and rose to his feet. “Thanks.” He didn’t let go of Hinata’s hand once he was up, instead he laced their fingers together and led them back to the gym. He only let go once they were outside the gym doors. 

Inside the gym most of the noise had died down, replaced by a feeling of worry that hung in the air. Where had Tsukishima disappeared off to? And Hinata for that matter? When the gym door swung open everyone in the gym turned to see who walked in, relief replacing worry for a brief second. 

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi shouted in alarm, eyes widening when he spotted the marks on Tsukishima’s face and neck. 

“Here we go,” Tsukishima muttered and took a few steps into the gym. 

Daichi ran over to Tsukishima and Hinata. “What the hell happened!?” he asked, worriedly.

Tsukishima looked from Daichi over to Coach Ukai and shrugged. “I’d like to talk to Coach Ukai. Alone.”

Coach Ukai nodded and walked off to the side with Tsukishima. “Okay, tell me what happened.” 

Tsukishima glanced back at the crowd of people who were keeping their distance per Tsukishima’s request, making brief eye contact before turning back to Ukai. “A teacher.” He admitted with a sigh. “I think his name is Hazaki? He cornered me while I was getting water, started threatening me, and then attacked me. I had to hit him back to get away,” he held up his bloody hand, “and then Hinata found me. Don’t think I’ll be able to play today.” 

Coach Ukai’s eyes widened. “Yeah, there is no way you are playing today. I-I’ll talk to the school right away. Do you know if he has had violent behaviors in the past or was that the first time you interacted with him?”

He held back the knee jerk reaction to look at Hinata. “... I couldn’t say. I’ve seen him around school before, but I’ve never introduced myself. He still knew my name and he even knew I was out sick yesterday even though I’m not in his class.”

Ukai nodded. “I’m going to go talk to Takeda and then to the school. There should still be people in the office. I’ll be back, just stay put here. Do you need ice or anything?”

“Some bandaids would be nice. Thank you.” He bowed his head slightly, a small feeling of satisfaction settling in him. Good, Ukai would take care of this. And then there wouldn’t be anything else to worry about.

“Hey Daichi! Go get Tsukishima some bandaids please. I’ll be right back. Can you also apologize to the neighborhood association for me and give a brief explanation, letting them know that one of our players got really hurt?”

“Can do. I’ll be right back with the bandages, Tsukishima,” Daichi told him, before running off. 

“Sorry for the trouble,” Tsukishima sighed, gently running his fingers over his hurt knuckles. Even though he’d thrown the punch a while ago, it still stung really bad. 

From across the room the team was watching him, talking in hushed whispers, clearly trying to figure out what happened without having to ask. Tsukishima scowled and looked away, not caring what they thought. 

Hinata looked to Tsukishima, then to the team, then back to Tsukishima. “You guys, let’s continue warming up. We don’t have time to stand around,” Hinata told them, wanting them to stop whispering about his now boyfriend.

The others nodded and slowly shuffled off to continue warming up, casting worried glances at Tsukishima as they did so. Only one person stayed behind with Hinata. Yamaguchi looked nervous, constantly darting his attention between Hinata and Tsukishima. 

“Hey, Hinata?” Yamaguchi asked, taking a few steps closer to the shorter boy. “Nothing too bad happened to Tsukishima, right?” He asked, concern for his best friend painted on his face.

“He should be fine...I’m pretty sure that teacher has done much worse.” Hinata realized after he said that, Yamaguchi had no idea what had happened to Tsukishima until now. “I- I wasn’t supposed to say that. Agh, Yamaguchi please don’t say anything about what happened.”

Yamaguchi frowned, the concern on his face increasing. “All- alright, Hinata. I won’t say anything. Just try not to say that to anyone else, though.” He offered a weak smile before turning around and hurrying off to join the rest of the group. 

Daichi soon came back to make the announcement about the practice match being cancelled. It was followed by the sounds of complaining and disappointment, almost exclusively from Karasuno. Daichi seemed to give no mind as he walked over to Tsukishima and offered to bandage up his hand. 

“No, it’s fine. I can do it myself. Thank you, Daichi.” Tsukishima took the bandages from Daichi and bowed his head. He walked over to sit down and started to try to bandage up his hand, only it wasn’t quite working when he only had one hand to do it. 

Hinata walked over to Tsukishima and took the bandages from him. “Let me do it.” He started to bandage up Tsukishima’s knuckles, ignoring the confused looks from his teammates. 

“I could do it myself,” he grumbled and looked away, but held out his hand for Hinata to do it for him. He could feel their teammates eyes on them and refused to look up to meet their gazes. 

“There you go!” Hinata said, after he finished. “How does that feel?”

Tsukishima pulled his hand back and held it up in front of his face, flexing his fingers slightly. “Better than before. Thanks, Hinata.” 

He could’ve sworn he heard Noya whisper from several feet away, “what the hell?” 

“Of course!” Hinata gave him a soft smile. “Rest up for me okay? I want you to be able to play in the next game.”

Tsukishima’s eyes widened slightly and he found himself nodding despite it being completely against the image the team had of him. “Alright. The next game might be stretching it a bit, though.” 

“I would be more worried about the death glare that Kageyama is giving you right now, babe.”

“Did you just call me babe?” Tsukishima bit back a laugh. He glanced over behind Hinata to find that, yes, Kageyama was shooting a death glare his way. And the way he was gripping the volleyball in his hands wasn’t too friendly either. Tsukishima smirked back at him, adding fuel to whatever fire had been started. 

“Is it okay that I called you babe?” Hinata asked, blushing.

“Didn’t take you for that kind of guy.” Tsukishima shrugged. “Call me whatever you want, I don’t mind.” 

“What if I called you my cutie patootie?” Hinata teased, laughing at his own joke.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and stood up. He leaned down to whisper, “then you’d have yourself a new ex-boyfriend, Shouyou. I’d rather you call me babe than that.” 

Hinata chuckled. “Whatever you say, Kei.” 

“Even better.” A small, rare smile graced Tsukishima’s face. 

Suddenly the gym doors burst open and a slightly frazzled Takeda walked in, followed by Ukai. “Excuse me! Given the events of this afternoon we have decided to cancel practice completely. Please return home quickly and safely.” 

“Oh no. My bad,” Tsukishima muttered, watching the team call out with complaints that were only stopped by Daichi’s glare. 

Hinata took Tsukishima’s uninjured hand in his. “Let’s go home.”

He couldn’t stop the light blush that dusted his cheeks this time, but he nodded. “Okay. Who’s house; yours or mine?” 

“I don’t mind either way,” Hinata replied, shrugging. “How about yours, since it’s closer?”

“Sounds good to me.” Tsukishima agreed. 

Together they walked, hand in hand, alongside the huddled group the team had made while they walked to the clubroom. A slight paranoia had blanketed over everyone, making them worried if one person strayed off whatever happened to Tsukishima would happen to them. Luckily the group made it to the clubroom in one piece. 

Tsukishima wasted no time changing, wanting to get home as soon as possible. He honestly wanted the day to end, he realized as he tried to ignore the throbbing pain on his cheek. While he changed he managed to easily avoid Yamaguchi’s questioning look. 

Hinata was no so lucky. 

“What the hell, dumbass?” Kageyama hissed at Hinata as soon as he was away from Tsukishima. “You’re hanging out with that jerk now? Since when?” 

“Well we are sort of um dating now…”

“Dating?!” Kageyama shouted in surprise. All noise in the club room halted at his outburst, everyone turning to see the conversation. “What?” 

“Dating.” Tsukishima spoke before anyone else could get a word in. “I thought even with your head full of volleyball you’d know what that is. I could pull up the definition if you want.” 

“Shut the fuck up, Tsukishima.” Kageyama growled, easily winding up. “What’s this about you and Hinata dating? Didn’t you two hate each other?” He looked down at Hinata, demanding an answer.

“We’ve been hanging out recently and I kind of fell for him,” Hinata explained, his face now as red as his hair.

Silence followed until various members of the team started shouting questions and congratulations. When had this happened? How long? Had they told anyone else? 

“Enough!” Daichi shouted, effectively forcing everyone calm. “This isn’t any of our business, leave them alone. You can bug them later on your own time.” 

Thank god for Daichi, Tsukishima thought. He knew the team would react like this, but he still wasn’t prepared for them practically jumping on him. It was incredible how excitable everyone could get, incredible in a very annoying way. He pulled on his backpack and looked over at Hinata, waiting for him to finish changing. 

Hinata finished changing and grabbed Tsukishima’s hand again. “Let’s go!” He stood on his tippy toes and kissed Tsukishima’s cheek, before starting to walk out of the club room with him.

Tsukishima let himself smile as he let Hinata lead him out of the club room. “That went well.” Tsukishima commented once they were off school grounds. 

“I’ll buy Kageyama a volleyball or something, so he’ll get over it,” Hinata told him, chuckling.

“Ah yes, win the King’s favor back by presenting him a volleyball. Then he’s required to toss for you.” Tsukishima teased. “The others did actually seem to take it pretty well. I’m not quite sure how Yamaguchi reacted, to be honest.” 

“Yamaguchi is your best friend, I’m sure he reacted fine. Plus, he is way too nice to hate anyone.”

“I guess so.” Tsukishima shrugged and squeezed Hinata’s hand. “He’s too nice for his own good, so you might have a point.”

The rest of the walk to Tsukishima’s house was a short one, filled with a comfortable silence between them only broken for the offhand comment between the two. It was almost completely dark by the time they reached his house, lights from neighboring houses lighting up their path. 

Inside the several lights were on, but a peaceful quiet was settled in the house. He knew his mom would still be away on her trip, but he wasn’t quite sure Akiteru was still around. “Hello? I’m back.” He called into the house, getting no response back. “Whatever. Come on,” he nodded for Hinata to follow him up the stairs.

Hinata plopped down on Tsukishima’s bed and reached his arms out. “Join me?”

Tsukishima let his drag drop to the floor before walking over to the bed and sat next to Hinata to join him. “What’s this? Trying to get me into bed already?” He teased with a grin. 

“Shut up,” Hinata mumbled, pushing Tsukishima lightly. 

“Don’t be like that, it’s obviously working.” His grin widened and he leaned down closer to Hinata. 

Hinata smirked, before leaning up and kissing him, pulling him in close.

Tsukishima sighed into the kiss, closing his eyes and tilted his head for better a better angle. He reached up to cup the back of Hinata’s head, pushing him closer while running his hand through his hair.

Hinata deepened the kiss, softly nibbling on Tsukishima’s bottom lip.

He gasped softly when Hinata nibbled at his lip.

Hinata took the opportunity to slide his tongue gently against Tsukishima’s.

Tsukishima groaned softly at the warmth, shivering when their tongues slid together. He couldn’t get close enough to Hinata, even though they were pressed together he wanted more.   
He pulled back for a moment, panting softly before moving a hand to Hinata’s chest and pushing him down onto the bed. Tsukishima moved forward so he was hovering over Hinata, he looked down at his new boyfriend for a moment with lidded eyes and then leaned down again for another kiss. 

Hinata wrapped his legs around Tsukishima, kissing him back. After a minute of just kissing, he pulled away from the kiss and moved to Tsukishima’s neck, softly sucking and biting at the skin.

He let out a shaky breath as Hinata pulled away and leaned his head back slightly, giving Hinata more skin to kiss. “Careful,” he hissed, flinching when Hinata’s teeth caught the edge of one of his bruises. 

“Shit sorry,” Hinata said, pressing a soft kiss to the bruise. “You’re so gorgeous Kei…”

“Shut up,” Tsukishima whispered, voice wobbly as his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. How the hell couldn’t Hinata be so forward about this kind of stuff? “Just- just keep kissing me.”

“Glady,” Hinata responded, before pulling him down into a deep kiss.

God, he could stay here forever, just kissing Hinata, Tsukishima thought in a hazy mess of jumbled thoughts. He pressed himself further into Hinata, parting his lips so he could run tongue across Hinata’s bottom lip. One of his hands reached down to grip Hinata’s hip, steadying himself above the smaller boy.

Hinata opened his mouth more as he ran his hands up and down Tsukishima’s back. He felt safe with Tsukishima, he felt warm. Hinata never thought that he could feel that with someone, after everything that had happened, but he was wrong. Tsukishima made him feel happy and cared for.

Gradually their fast paced kissing began to slowly down. Tsukishima pulled away with a gasp and leaned back to get a better look at Hinata. He frowned. “This isn’t fair,” he muttered, “you look too good all the time. It makes me want to kiss you everywhere.” 

He followed that statement by pressing a kiss to the corner of Hinata’s mouth, and then his cheek. With soft, quick kisses, he created a trail down to Hinata’s throat, leading all the way to his shirt collar. “No fair at all,” he sighed against Hinata’s collar.

Hinata flushed red. “Then kiss me everywhere…”

“Mmm, everywhere?” Tsukishima mumbled, pulling Hinata’s shirt collar down just enough to press several kisses against his shoulder. He started to trail back up to Hinata’s neck before stopping halfway to kiss and suck an area of skin.

Hinata leaned his head back and let out a breathy moan. He reached out to run his fingers tenderly through Tsukishima’s hair.

Tsukishima kept kissing and sucking the spot of skin until when he pulled back he saw he had left a mark. He gently kissed it, a strange feeling of satisfaction settling inside of him. He returned to trailing kisses up Hinata’s neck, breaking the pattern once to lightly nibble on his earlobe, before returning back to Hinata’s lips. He hovered just above him, almost kissing him but not quite. 

“You’re really good at this,” Hinata breathed out, before leaning up to softly kiss him.

Tsukishima flushed at Hinata’s words, pulling back to whisper, “That’s good to know, since you’re the first person I’ve kissed.” 

Hinata smiled at him, before kissing him on the tip of his nose. “I’m glad to be your first kiss, Kei.”

Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed into a mild version of a glare, he hovered over Hinata for a few seconds before dropping down onto him. He groaned and buried his face against Hinata’s neck. “Goddammit. You’re way too cute, stop it…. I’m glad you were too,” he mumbled, hiding away.

“Nope, I’m going to keep on being cute and there is nothing you can do to stop me,” Hinata replied, giggling.

“Stop it,” Tsukishima groaned again, reaching over to lightly pinch Hinata’s sides. “How am I supposed to deal with you and you being so cute? Take some responsibility.” 

“Only if you take some responsibility for being too attractive.”

Tsukishima snorted. “Given that you’re much cuter than I am attractive, that seems a little unfair.”

“Oh god are we going to be one of those couples?” Hinata asked, chuckling.

“Probably.” Tsukishima groaned. “Ugh. I hate those couples so much. Look what you’re turning me into, Hinata. I can’t believe this.”

“Hey, you started it! Not my fault that you are secretly super cheesy.”

“Shut up. It’s still your fault, I didn’t even know I was like this until you came along. You bring it out of me.” Tsukishima sighed, peeking out of Hinata’s neck to peer up at him. “So, your fault.”

“I can’t help that you like me so much. Good thing I like you back just as much.” Hinata smiled sweetly at him.

“Ugh.” Tsukishima groaned again, burying his face back into Hinata’s neck. The tips of his ears glowed with a red blush. “Too cute, too sweet,” he mumbled, starting to sound sleepy. “Can we just sleep here? Forget about school tomorrow?”

“Kei, we already missed school this week, but I’ll sleep over tonight.” Hinata kissed the top of Tsukishima’s head.

“Fine, fine.” Tsukishima sighed before pulling away. “Since when have you become so invested in school anyway?” He asked with a yawn, the stressful events of the past few days catching up with him. 

“Since I want to be able to play on the volleyball team and that won’t happen if I flunk. At least now I have a super smart boyfriend to teach me,” Hinata replied grinning.

“Ah, so that's why you wanted to date me.” Tsukishima teased. He unwound his arms from Hinata and sat up before sliding off the bed and walking over to his dresser. “I'll find you something to wear for the night.” 

Hinata hopped out of bed and followed him, going up, and hugging him from behind.

Tsukishima had just pulled out a shirt when he felt Hinata hug him. He glanced down at Hinata’s arms wrapped around him before peeking over his shoulder, only able to see the top of his orange hair. “Something wrong?” He asked, confused as to why Hinata followed him.

“Just happy that I can do this now,” Hinata replied, shrugging.

“Hm.” Tsukishima hummed, biting back a smile. There was only so much sappiness he could take himself showing. He reached down and pulled out a pair of pants along with the shirt.

Hinata took the clothes from Tsukishima and changed into them, before going back to the bed and crawling under the blankets.

Tsukishima climbed into bed next to Hinata, staying on his end of the bed, though. Sleeping in the same bed with Hinata as a teammate had been only felt slightly annoying; sleeping in the same bed with Hinata as a boyfriend made his face heat up with embarrassment. 

Hinata snuggled up against Tsukishima and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodnight, Kei.”

Tsukishima flushed, but allowed himself to wrap an arm around Hinata. “Night, Shouyou.”


	8. Chapter 8

Hinata woke up first, smiling at his sleeping boyfriend. He reached over to grab his phone to check the time, seeing that they still had an hour before school began. He pressed a soft kiss against Tsukishima’s cheek. “Morning.”

Tsukishima groaned and sunk back into the blankets, opening his eyes just enough to peer over at Hinata. Still not a morning person, no matter who he woke up next to. “It’s a morning.” He grumbled, turning his head to lean into the pillow. “What time is it?”

“About seven, so we should probably start getting ready now,” Hinata said, starting to tug the blankets off of Tsukishima.

Tsukishima groaned again, a louder, agitated one. He reached over to tug the blankets back, keeping them in place. “We have an hour until school, it’s fine.” He argued, trying to pull the blankets back up to his chin. “We can sleep in a bit more; five, ten, twenty, thirty minutes.” He counted off with a yawn. “You’re not dragging me up this early in the morning.”

“We need time to get ready and eat breakfast. Come on, don’t be a lazy butt. Plus if you get ready fast, we have time to make out before school.”

Tsukishima peeked out from under the blanket at that, the tips of his ears flushed pink. “... Fine.” He mumbled and threw the blankets off. “It’s not my fault that you have to get up as early as possible,” he grumbled, climbing off the bed and starting to gather his clothes. 

Hinata smiled at Tsukishima, before getting up to change into his school clothes. “What do you have for breakfast?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I usually just grab something quick to eat. Mainly coffee.” Tsukishima admitted with a shrug. “Anything you want? I’m pretty sure I can find it with how much my mom likes to buy from the store.” 

“Do you have cereal?” Hinata asked. “Not some boring whole grain stuff though.”

“Probably. Didn’t know you had such high standards for cereal.” Tsukishima muttered with a small grin, buttoning up his shirt before heading downstairs.

“I don’t have standards, I just would rather my cereal not taste like cardboard,” Hinata replied, following his boyfriend down the stairs.

Tsukishima rummaged through the cupboards in his kitchen before pulling out a box of cereal and a bowl. “Here. Will this do?” He set the items down before turning to grab himself a cup of coffee.

“Yeah! Thank you, Kei.” Hinata smiled brightly at him.

Tsukishima sipped his coffee as he watched Hinata eat his cereal at an almost alarming rate before they headed out. 

Once they arrived at school, Hinata reached out to squeeze his boyfriend’s hand. “You think he’ll be gone by now, r-right?”

“Hmm.” Tsukishima hummed, thinking it over. “Hope so. Depends on what Ukai-sensei and Takeda-sensei told them.” His tone was bored, as if speaking about a trivial matter, but he still squeezed Hinata’s hand back firmly.

“Can you walk me to class to make sure?” Hinata asked, nervously. 

“Of course.” Tsukishima nodded and squeezed his hand again for reassurance. He led Hinata into the building, glaring at students or teachers who looked at them for too long. He could practically see them trying to peek at the bruises hidden by the headphones around his neck or at his and Hinata’s hands together. 

Hinata looked towards his classroom and froze, scared to go any further. “I d-don’t know if I can do this, Kei…”

“Well. Do you want me to go see if he's in there?” Tsukishima offered, letting go of his hand to reach over and gently rub his back, trying to sooth him. 

Hinata buried his head in Tsukishima’s chest. “If y-you promise to be careful.”

Tsukishima’s face quickly grew hot at the contact. Sure, doing this was easy in a bedroom. But in the middle of the hallway? He stopped himself from automatically shoving Hinata off as he could for certain see people staring. “Um, yeah. It’ll be fine, I’ll be careful.”

Hinata nodded and let go of Tsukishima. “I’ll stay here for now.”

“Good idea.” Tsukishima nodded. He took a step back, quickly glanced around, and then hurried over to Hinata’s classroom. The door was already cracked open, but from what Tsukishima could see there were no kids inside. Instead a small group was gathering, peering inside at Haizaki and the group of police surrounding his desk. 

They spoke soft enough that the students had to strain to hear bits and pieces. Haizaki looked quite calm, maintaining the air of a teacher as he shook his head and held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “No… I would never…” 

Tsukishima turned to look at Hinata. “Police are here,” he mouthed over the slowly growing crowd at him. 

“Is he here?” Hinata mouthed back.

“With the police.” Tsukishima replied but his attention was drawn away by a small gasp next to him. 

He turned to look back into the room to see one of the police officers holding cuffs and another grabbing Haizaki’s arms. Tsukishima couldn’t hear the words spoken, but he was able to watch as the cuffs were fastened to Haizaki’s wrists and slowly led to the door. 

The students scurried away, not wanting to be caught peeking. Tsukishima himself took a step back to stand against the wall. He looked back at Hinata and mouthed, “it’s okay.”

Hinata nervously backed up into the lockers as Haizaki grew closer. He knew that Haizaki couldn’t do anything to him now, but he was still in a panic. 

When Haizaki was walked out into and down the hall he kept his head held high and a calm expression on his face. He didn’t spare a look towards Hinata until they were only a few feet away. A lazy smile made its way onto his face as he made eye contact with the boy. 

“See you later, Shouyou.” His voice was soft. As if making a promise. 

Hinata’s eyes widened, before he took off running to the staircase. Fear flooded through him and he wanted to get as far away from everyone as possible. He reached the roof and collapsed on the ground in tears.

Haizaki smirked as he watched Hinata sprint away, letting the police lead him off without another word. 

Tsukishima’s attention had been on Haizaki, too paranoid that he’d do anything to look away until he saw him say something to Hinata and then the latter sprint off. Without thinking, he hurried after, trailing after Hinata up to the roof. He paused in front of the closed doors, suddenly back again when this all started, before pushing through. 

“Shouyou?” He called, walking out. It wasn’t hard to miss his boyfriend, crumpled on the ground. In a slight panic he ran over and crouched down. “Shouyou! What’s wrong?” 

“H-he said that he w-would see me l-later. I don’t w-want him to come back, I-I’m so scared Kei. He’s going to c-come back and it’s g-going to be bad and oh god.” Hinata started hyperventilating, going into a panic attack.

“Haizaki said that?” Tsukishima asked, softening his tone as Hinata’s anxiety worked up. He sat down on the roof, reaching over to gently cup Hinata’s face. “Shouyou. Shouyou, listen.” He spoke slowly and calmly. “He’s not going to come back. He just said that to freak you out, okay? You saw the handcuffs on him, right? He’s not coming back and nothing will happen.” 

“B-but what if he has bail money or good lawyers or something!?” Hinata cried into Tsukishima’s chest.

Tsukishima sighed and wrapped his arms around Hinata. “He still won’t be allowed to come back to the school. They wouldn’t be caught dead with him teaching here. And if you need to, you can get a restraining order if he tries anything.”

Hinata held onto his boyfriend tightly. “You’ll m-make sure he doesn’t h-hurt me, right?”

“Of course.” Tsukishima muttered, rubbing a hand up and down Hinata’s back, hoping to calm him down a bit. He tilted his head down and buried his face into Hinata’s hair. 

“Love you…” Hinata muttered, before realizing what he had just said. He quickly pulled away and covered his mouth. “I-I, that was too soon crap. It just came out, I didn’t mean to say it! P-please don’t hate me.”

Tsukishima’s eyes widened as he stared at Hinata, silent as he explained himself. Had he heard right? Given Hinata’s reaction, he must have. “Uh.” He muttered, a blush creeping up from his neck to his face. He quickly looked away from Hinata, instead staring down the ground. “I don’t… I don’t hate you. Um, I- uh, I’m...” When did his mouth get so dry?

“Well t-that’s good then…” Hinata covered his face with his hands.

“Yeah.” Tsukishima muttered, quickly nodded and keeping his gaze down. “Look. I, um. Ahh. I like you. A lot, alright?” He clenched his hands slightly, fully aware that he was never the best at using words to express himself. “And I just. Want you to know that? I mean.” He groaned. He was just messing this all up, wasn’t he? 

“Oh…” He figured that Tsukishima wouldn’t feel the same way, especially how early it was to say it. “I get it, don’t worry.”

“No! It’s just-! I don’t… I don’t like caring about people. It’s messy and you just end up getting hurt.” He admitted, clenching his hands so tight his nails pressed into his palms. “But I care about you. A lot. And I don’t mind it.”

“If it helps, I promise that I won’t hurt you. I know people always say that, but I really mean it. I know what it’s like to be hurt and I don’t want to be the cause of anyone’s pain, especially yours. You are really special Kei and you deserve everything good in life. I hope that I can give it to you.”

Tsukishima ducked his head to hide his worsening blush. “How do you say stuff like that so easily?” 

Hinata shrugged. “I can’t help it around you, I guess.”

“Sorry.” Tsukishima whispered, frowning. He wished he could say those words back to Hinata, but this was all too new and different and he knew the weight of them. “I wish I could do the same.”

“You don’t have to. This is just one way I show affection. You make me feel so happy and liked in other ways, Kei.”

Tsukishima huffed, peering up at Hinata before reaching up to cup his face. Suddenly he pulled Hinata forward and pressed their lips together, but only for a second. He pulled back and looked away again. “There.”

Hinata gave him a wide smile, before pulling Tsukishima into a hug. 

Almost reluctant by his embarrassment, he leaned into the hug. “You know, I think we’ve missed most of first period by now.” 

“I’m pretty sure you missed first period, not me. My class probably got cancelled with all the arresting and stuff that happened.”

Tsukishima groaned. If he had already missed first period was there any point in coming to school? “Think you have to go to second period?”

Hinata shrugged. “I guess I could skip just for you, but you’re tutoring me in what I missed later.”

“Told you there was no point coming here. We should’ve just skipped.” Tsukishima muttered, leaning down to hide his face against Hinata’s hair. “I’ll still help with what you missed.” 

“At least we know for sure that he’s gone now...I mean I really hope he is.” 

“He has to be. If the school doesn’t make sure, I’ll press charges myself.” Tsukishima shrugged. “I mean, as far as everyone knows I’m the only one he’s assaulted, so it’d make sense for me to do that. Don’t worry, Shouyou, he’s not coming back.” 

“When I think about what he did to me...j-just thank you for saving me from it. I would have let him keep at it if you hadn’t helped me”

Tsukishima frowned, hiding himself further in Hinata’s unruly hair. The thought that Hinata would let that go on longer than it did made his stomach churn. The thought that it would have gone on longer if he hadn’t decided to follow Hinata up to the roof. He hated it. He tightened his hold on Hinata slightly.

“Kei, do you think we can kiss for a bit?” Hinata asked, blushing.

“So forward,” Tsukishima teased, pulling back to look down at Hinata. “I’d much prefer spending second period kissing rather than going to class.” He muttered, leaning down to capture Hinata’s lips in a kiss.

Hinata smiled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Tsukishima’s shoulders and pulling him in close.

The soft morning sun shone above them as they sat on the roof, Tsukishima trying to kiss Hinata’s troubles away. They held each other close, slowly forgetting the world around them. Tsukishima was sure if they hadn’t heard the faint ringing of a bell for third class to start they would’ve stayed there all morning until someone else decided to come up to the roof. 

Tsukishima pulled back, face slightly flushed and lips pink. “We should probably go back.” He muttered, not sounded like he wanted to at all. 

“You’re probably right…” Hinata sighed, then pecked Tsukishima on the lips one last time, before standing up. “Shall we?”

Tsukishima stood up and brushed himself off, fixing his uniform slightly. “We probably should. Want me to walk you back to class?”

“Yes please!” Hinata replied, giving him a wide smile. 

Tsukishima nodded and opened the door for Hinata to go back downstairs. The halls weren’t too crowded, the only got one or two odd looks when they exited the stairwell. People seemed to be walking more towards Hinata’s classroom, Tsukishima noticed. Outside the classroom was a small crowd mostly made up of kids Tsukishima vaguely remembered seeing exiting Hinata’s classroom often. 

“What’s with the crowd?” Tsukishima asked someone at random, glancing at the shut doors of the classroom. 

A shorter girl glanced up at him and then over at Hinata. “The police are talking to everyone is Haizaki sensei’s class. It’s taken most of the morning…” Her gaze drifted down to Tsukishima’s neck, widening at the bruises. “Hey, you aren’t the kid Haizaki…?” She whispered, as if afraid everyone else would hear her. 

“Yes.” Tsukishima nodded, voice tight and posture tensing up. He reached up to readjust the headphones around his neck, hoping to better hide the bruises. He didn’t need this stranger’s pity. 

“D-does everyone need to talk to the police?” Hinata asked, nervously.

“I think so.” The girl nodded, hardly sparing Hinata a glance. 

“You should probably say something.” Tsukishima whispered. “It’ll be weird if you don’t.” 

Hinata nodded. “Did everybody else go already?”

The girl shrugged. “They probably have a few more to go. Why?” She finally glanced over and raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want to talk to them?” 

“Do you not want to mind your own business?” Tsukishima replied, eyes narrowing into a glare. 

“I was just wondering,” he said, sternly. “Come on Kei, let’s get in line.”

Tsukishima huffed, but nodded. “Fine.” He followed Hinata to the messy, mostly unorganized line as they watched a slightly shaken looking kid walk out. 

A police officer peeked out the door, gaze sweeping over the students. She locked eyes with Hinata before taking a few steps towards him. “Name?” 

“Hinata Shouyou, ma’am.”

She glanced down at a list in hand before nodding back to the room. “We have a few questions we’d like you to answer, son. Please come with me.”

Hinata glanced nervously towards Tsukishima, before following the officer in. 

Tsukishima’s expression remained neutral around the crowd, but he did look down at Hinata and offer a quick nod before watching him follow the police officer in. 

Inside the room was another police officer, sitting at Haizaki’s desk with a notepad and a pen. The woman motioned for Hinata to sit down on the other side. “Now, Hinata. It’s true that Haizaki is relatively new here. Have you had him as a teacher before?” 

“I-I…” He took a breath in and out. “I had him in second grade actually.”

“Hm. And have you ever noticed anything strange about him? Does he seem like any other teacher?” She continued, glancing back at her partner, who was writing something down, briefly.

“He has always seemed um...c-creepy I guess.”

“Creepy? Creepy how?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “We’ll need you to be more specific.” 

“Just was o-overly close to the kids,” Hinata replied, trying his best to keep his voice calm.

The police officer hummed and nodded, sparing a glance at her partner. “Are there any specific examples you can give us? Of him being overly close? We’ve heard… similar reports in the past.”

“He was very touchy feely…”

Her eyes widened and she nodded. “Alright. Are there any students you could name for us? Or any specific encounters when you witnessed this?”

“Students would um tutor with him, but I d-don’t think it was really t-tutoring.”

“Hm. Sounds familiar.” She nodded. “We’ll ask around to see if he’s been doing this again. Is there anything else you want to tell us?” 

“W-what do you mean sounds familiar?”

“Well.” She looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. “Your teacher has a bit of a… reputation. But we’ve only heard stories of his… tutoring sessions after he’s moved schools and changed names.”

“So there’s been more people? It hasn’t been a one time thing?”

“We’re not allowed to say too much, but this school isn’t the first one we’ve visited because of him.” She sighed. “You can head back to your classmates now. Any information about your school or any new teachers should be given to you at the end of the day. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Hinata nodded and quickly headed out of the classroom. He looked around for his boyfriend, before seeing him waiting by the lockers. “Kei!” he called out.

Tsukishima was leaning against the lockers, tapping away at his phone when he heard Hinata call out. He glanced up, raising an eyebrow at him before pushing himself of the lockers to walk over. 

Hinata gently reached to hold onto Tsukishima’s pinky with his own. “I um, guess you’re probably up next then.”

“Probably,” Tsukishima agreed, glancing down at their pinkies. “What’d they ask you?”

“Apparently he’s done this before...he’s uh, changed his name a few times.”

“Really? What the hell.” Tsukishima muttered, eyebrows coming together. He then lowered his voice to a whisper. “Are you okay?”

Hinata shrugged. “I mean, I’m happy he’s gone. I’m still a bit shaken up though...I really hope he doesn’t come back…”

Tsukishima nodded and glanced around at the crowd. “Think we should try to skip the rest of the day? I mean, it looks like this,” he waved his hand at the room, “is all they’re going to be doing.”

“Aren’t they going to want to talk to you, since you were the one who reported it? I mean don’t get me wrong, I would much rather skip the day and spend time with my gorgeous boyfriend. I just don’t want you to get in any trouble.”

Tsukishima huffed and looked away, biting back a smile. “I guess so. I just don’t want to wait around all day and end up being the last person they talk to. It seems pointless then.”

“You’re all tall and stuff. Maybe you could push through the crowd?”

“Alright. I’ll go see if they’ll talk to me.” Tsukishima let go of Hinata’s hand to weed his way through the crowd of anxious students. His height did make it significantly easier, but no less annoying. 

Quickly, he made it to the door, where one of the police officers was glancing over a list. When he looked up his eyes widened in recognition at the bruises on Tsukishima’s neck. Tsukishima looked back at Hinata before following the police officer in, the door shutting with a hard slam behind them. 

This questioning went on far longer than any of the others. Question after question about the incident, about Haizaki, about his relationship with Haizaki, about Haizaki’s tutoring sessions. Honestly, he did understand why they needed to ask so much, but there was only so much he could take. It felt like forever when they finally let him go, when he was able to walk out the doors and back into the anxious crowd. He glanced over students heads, looking for Hinata. 

“Kei over here!” Hinata called out, still in the same place as before.

Tsukishima flushed and hurried over to Hinata, pushing past everyone else. “That took forever,” he muttered when he finally made his way over. Hesitantly he reached out to hook a finger in Hinata’s belt. 

“You okay? Did it go alright?” Hinata asked, concerned. 

“It was just tedious.” Tsukishima reassured him with a shrug. “I think it went fine. I didn’t mention you at all, other than I knew he was your teacher. I assured them I’d be pressing charges for assault. Everything seems fine.” 

“Thank you Kei…You’ve done so much for me. It means the world and more to me…”

Tsukishima flushed, but his hold on Hinata’s belt tightened. “It’s fine,” he mumbled the words. “You’ve already thanked me enough.”

“You kind of saved me, of course I’m going to thank you a lot, but I can stop if it’s bothering you.”

“It’s not bothering me.” It’s just embarrassing, he finished in his thoughts. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” 

Hinata nodded, before reaching out to hold Tsukishima’s hand.

Tsukishima squeezed his hand before leading him past the crowd and through the school. None of the teachers seemed to notice the two of them leaving, too preoccupied with the police investigation and their own classes. He was almost surprised that they got out so easily. 

He sighed when they walked out into the sunny day, relaxing now away from the crowd and high anxiety of the school. “There we go,” he muttered, walking towards the entrance of the school. 

Hinata gave him a small peck on the cheek. “Where to now?”

“Wherever you want. My treat.” Tsukishima turned his gaze down, offering a rare, sweet smile. 

“You should smile more, you look really handsome when you do it.”

“Sappy,” Tsukishima tsked, but kept his smile on his face.

“Come on, you love it.” He grinned at his boyfriend. 

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, something he often did, but the way his eyes shown made it almost look fond. “Maybe,” he allowed, squeezing Hinata’s hand one last time. A sweet gesture for only the two of them.

“Shall we head out then? I’m thinking the park! I bet that I can swing higher than you.” 

He choked back a small laugh, bringing his free hand up to hide his grin. “I don’t see how, I have the advantage of my height.” Tsukishima laughed again at the glare Hinata sent his way. “But, sure. The park sounds… nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the fic! I've thought about writing an epilogue, but I'm not sure yet. Let me know if you want one :) Thanks for reading!


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